Nain Lal Kidwani was one of the first women to enter the formerly male bastion of investment banking. She is the first woman to lead a foreign bank in India. She is gearing to do some pioneering work in water conservation and women`s empowerment. She combined a talent for business with a keen eye for emerging trends to become one of India`s most influential investment bankers.

Early life of Naina Lal Kidwai
Nain Lal Kidwai was born in 1957. Kidwai earned a Bachelors degree in Economics from Lady Shriram College for Women, Delhi University. She is also a chartered accountant. She has also done an MBA from Harvard Business School (graduated 1982). She was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School

Career of Nain Lal Kidwai
Initially she had started her career with Price Water House. She worked at ANZ Grindlays from 1982-1994, where her assignments included Head of the Investment Bank, Head of Global NRI Services and Head of the Western India, Retail Bank. She worked at Morgan Stanley as Vice Chairman of JM Morgan Stanley and Head of the Investment Bank in India during 1994-2002. She has held various positions at HSBC which include Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank in India and Managing Director and Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India Private Limited. She became the group`s country head in 2009.

The other positions that she has held are: Non-Executive Director on the board of Nestle SA, Chairman, City of London`s Advisory Council for India, Global Advisor, Harvard Business School. She is on the Governing Board of NCAER, Audit Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and on the National Executive Committee of CII and FICCI. Her interests include microfinance and livelihood creation for rural women and environment. She also supports the world`s largest youth driven organization - AIESEC as a National Advisory Board Member to AIESEC India.

Awards received by Nain Lal Kidwai
Kidwai has been ranked in the Fortune global list of Top Women in Business, 12th in the Wall Street Journal 2006 Global Listing of Women to Watch ad listed by Time Magazine as one of their 15 Global Influentials. She received the Padma Shri, for her work in the promotion of Trade and Industry in 2007.

Personal Life of Naina Lal Kidwai
Naina is married to Rashid Kidwai, who runs an NGO named Grassroots Trading Network for Women.