India's largest private-sector bank ICICI Bank today named its joint managing director Chanda Kochhar to succeed KV Kamath as CEO and managing director.

Kamath will take over as non-executive chairman on from 1 May 2009, a day after Kamath's retirement on 30 April 2009, for a 5-year term till 31 March 2014.

Kochhar heads the corporate centre of the bank since 2007 responsible for ensuring strategic consistency across the group, and is also the chief financial officer (CFO) and is the official spokesperson for ICICI Bank. In addition to finance, planning and communications; her responsibilities include the global treasury, principal investments and trading, risk management and legal functions.

She is also responsible for day-to-day guidance and administrative matters relating to compliance and internal audit functions (See: ICICI Bank elevates Chanda Kochhar as joint MD and CFO in top level promotions),

Kochhar was instrumental in establishing ICICI Bank during the 1990s, and subsequently headed the infrastructure finance and major clients groups in ICICI. In 2000, she took on the challenge of building the nascent retail business, with strong focus on technology, innovation, process reengineering and expansion of distribution and scale.

She successfully managed the integration of the retail franchises of ICICI and ICICI Bank, as well as of other acquisitions.

During 2006-2007, she successfully led the bank's wholesale and international banking businesses during a period of heightened activity and global expansion by Indian companies.

Kochhar takes over at a time when ICICI Bank's balance sheet is shrinking and non-performing assets are growing against the backdrop of an unprecedented global credit crunch.

The bank's shares have under performed this year and it has been plagued with rumours of a liquidity crisis. Until then, it was India's most valued bank in terms of market capitalization, comfortably ahead of the much larger State Bank of India (SBI) despite a much smaller asset base.

But since the beginning of 2008, ICICI Bank's shares have lost 61.75 per cent while the benchmark Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange has fallen 50.33 per cent and the banking index, Bankex, has lost 50.78 per cent. ICICI Bank's market capitalisation has been eroded by Rs84,657 crore.

Kochhar joined ICICI as a management trainee in 1984, after her masters in management studies (finance) from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.She topped her batch and received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies. In Cost Accountancy she received the J. N. Bose Gold Medal for highest marks in that year. Ms Kochhar presently resides in Mumbai and is married and has a daughter and a son.

She was born on 17 November 1961, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan where she spent most of her early years. (See: K V Kamath to be non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank)