Madhabi Puri Buch
44, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Securities
(Number of times in BT's Most Powerful list: 5)

Biggest achievement in 2010: Incubated several new business models with ICICI Securities Being a powerful woman is important because: It helps me make a positive difference in others' lives Tip for work-life balance: Enjoy doing what you like and have a family that supports you A workplace without women is: A constraint to growth

It may be one of the oldest clichés in the book, but Madhabi Puri Buch "looks to make a difference in whatever I do." As CEO of ICICI Securities, or I-Sec, she is doing exactly that. Over the past year, I-Sec has incubated several innovative business models. "We have a team called the ICICI Securities Entrepreneurial Group that has come up with some interesting business models. We are reinventing the traditional investment banking business," says Buch.

For instance, the institutional broking division's research wing currently tracks about 150 companies. One of the newlyincubated models can create and generate research for 5,000 unlisted and listed companies. "We have been able to democratise research," says Buch.

In the private equity intermediation space I-Sec has set up a special team to tap the sub-$10 million fund-raising market, which remains largely fragmented and unorganised.

The team, which is working on pilot transactions, will help small enterprises and start-ups raise growth capital. Buch has also founded the Toofles Foundation, which aims to create a "revolution in giving" by hand-holding people who want to donate but do not know how to go about it. She is making a difference, differently.

-Anusha Subramanian

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