Roopa Kudva
47, MD & CEO,
CRISIL, Region Head, South Asia, S&P
(Number of times in BT's Most Powerful list: 3)

Biggest achievement in 2010: Acquisition of Chicago-based Pipal Research Being a powerful woman is important because: It enables you to make a difference Tip for work-life balance: Enjoy both work and non-work life A workplace without women is: Unimaginable

If I had not been here, I would have been a teacher," says Roopa Kudva, Head of CRISIL Ltd, which she claims is much more than a rating agency. CRISIL today rates close to 5,400 companies and nearly 20,000 small and medium enterprises.

Kudva's high point for the year gone by was the acquisition of Chicago based Pipal Research for $12.75 million, which will make CRISIL "a market leader in analytical offshoring". CRISIL has also extended the concept of independent equity research, which it launched last September, to over 50 companies. Equity research by market players is transactionled and hence can be biased. But is life all about ratings and research for Kudva? "If you talk of work-life balance then somewhere it means you do not enjoy one or the other. I enjoy both," she says.


-Shalini S. Dagar

The 30 Most Powerful Women
1. Schauna Chauhan 2. Zarin Daruwala 3. Lynn de Souza 4. Tanya Dubash 5. Shyamala Gopinath 6. Vinita Gupta 7. Kaku Nakhate 8. Vedika Bhandarkar 9. Manisha Girotra 10. Lalita Gupte 11. Usha Narayanan 12. Akhila Srinivasan 13. Leena Nair 14. Vinita Bali 15. Chanda Kochhar	16. Roopa Kudva 17. Naina Lal Kidwai 18. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 19. Zarina Mehta 20. Zia Mody 21. Kalpana Morparia 22. Vishakha Mulye 23. Swati Piramal 24. Meher Pudumjee 25. Madhabi Puri Buch 26. Chitra Ramkrishna 27. Preetha Reddy 28. Shikha Sharma 29. Mallika Srinivasan 30. Sangeeta Talwar