WASHINGTON: ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar has become the first Indian woman to be conferred with the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship.
Kochhar, 55, received the annual award which was instituted in 1998 by the prestigious Wilson Center to felicitate individuals whose actions and accomplishments, either in their careers or through service.
She has joined the league of former Indian recipients-- former President and space scientist APJ Abdul Kalam and IT honcho Narayana Murthy. Kochhar said yesterday that she is accepting the award on behalf of women of India and the ICICI Group.
"Over the years, we have gone beyond our businesses to take up philanthropic projects in diverse areas from education to healthcare to skilling. Today, we have provided skill training free of cost, in technical trades, sales and office skills, to over 136,000 people, who are gainfully employed," Kochhar said.
Previous recipients of the award include former US vice president Richard Cheney, US Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson as well as four former US Secretaries of State- Henry Kissinger, General (rtd) Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice.
"As I see the list of past recipients of this honour, I feel inspired to be counted as one among them. It is a distinguished and varied list, reflecting not only the wide range of achievements of these individuals, but also the Woodrow Wilson Centre's commitment to recognise and honour excellence across every area of human endeavor," Kochhar said.
Kochhar began her career with the erstwhile ICICI Limited in 1984 and was elevated to the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank in 2001 and was instrumental in establishing ICICI Bank during the 1990s.
She was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2011.