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The first Indian woman from Harvard
In 2002, Kidwai was recruited by HSBC Securities to become their VC, MD, and head of investment banking in India.
After an economics degree from Delhi University and a chartered accountancy course, Naina Lal Kidwai became the first woman to be hired by Price Waterhouse as a trainee in 1977.
After a three-year stint with Price Waterhouse as an independent auditor, Kidwai realised that acquiring more degrees was her best defence against gender discrimination in the management field.
In 1982, she became the first woman from India to earn an MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School. After graduation, Kidwai returned to India and joined ANZ Grindlays Bank.
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Naina Lal Kidwai |
Within three years, Kidwai rose to head Grindlays's western regional operations for investment banking. In 1989, she was promoted to head the entire division.
By 1991, Kidwai felt it was time for a new challenge and made a lateral move to the company's retail-banking division.
In 1994, Morgan Stanley opened offices in India and recruited Kidwai to head their investment-banking business. She convinced Morgan Stanley to focus on emerging industries such as information technology (IT) and telecommunications. Apart from financing Wipro and Infosys, she managed the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Bharti Tele-Ventures and Maruti Udyog.
For Morgan Stanley, Kidwai engineered a joint venture with Mumbai-based JM Financials in 1997.
Under Kidwai, the renamed JM Morgan Stanley became the most important investment bank in India, managing corporate mergers worth nearly $700 million in 1999.
In 2002, Kidwai was recruited by HSBC Securities (part of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation) to become their vice chairman, managing director, and head of investment banking in India.
