Arundhati Bhattacharya
Former Chairperson, State Bank of IndiaAbout
A decade ago, Cloud computing was still an emerging concept in India’s enterprise landscape, and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions were far from mainstream. Today, Salesforce has cemented itself as a critical player in India’s digital transformation, helping businesses scale, automate, and thrive in a data-driven world. At the helm of this shift is Arundhati Bhattacharya, the chairperson & CEO of Salesforce India and South Asia, who has orchestrated an extraordinary sixfold revenue growth in just four years. Since taking charge in 2020, Bhattacharya has transformed Salesforce India into a billion-dollar business, with revenues skyrocketing to ₹9,100 crore ($1 billion) in FY24. More than just numbers, her leadership has established India as a strategic hub within the company’s global network, driving both innovation and expansion. Her journey to the Cloud was anything but conventional. Before stepping into the technology space, Bhattacharya was a legend in Indian banking. As the first woman to lead State Bank of India, she steered the 200-year-old institution into the digital era, launching the YONO banking platform. In 2020, she made an unexpected leap—trading the traditional world of banking for the dynamic, fast-evolving SaaS industry. And her impact was swift: verticalisation of Salesforce’s enterprise segment, tailoring Cloud solutions for key industries such as BFSI, healthcare, and automotive. Today, marquee Indian enterprises such as Air India, Bajaj Finance, and NPCI leverage Salesforce’s AI-powered solutions to drive efficiency and customer engagement.
