The journey: From 2009 to 2018, Shikha Sharma's years at Axis Bank

Her loans to the infrastructure sector players resulted in high non-performing assets

Shikha Sharma, a veteran at ICICI Bank, joined Axis Bank in June 2009. She has spearheaded the bank’s journey to become a universal one.

While her strategy to acquire Enam’s investment banking business for Rs 20.67 billion and expand the bank’s retail base worked very well, loans to the infrastructure sector players resulted in high non-performing assets.

Between 2008-09 and 2016-17, Axis Bank’s net interest income and other income, mainly from fees, grew five-fold and four-fold, respectively. Prior to Axis Bank, Sharma was the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

When she joined,