Salesforce South Asia CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya Conferred With Padma Shri

SUMMARY

Arundhati Bhattacharya has been awarded the Padma Shri Award for her contributions to the field of trade and industry

She joined Salesforce in 2020 as the chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India.

She is widely known as the first woman to chair SBI 2013-2017

Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson and chief executive officer of Salesforce South Asia region, has been conferred with Padma Shri for her contributions to the field of trade and industry.

She received the award from President Droupadi Murmu in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

“I am deeply humbled to receive the Padma Shri award, one of India’s most esteemed recognitions. This honor reflects the incredible opportunities I’ve had to contribute to India’s trade and industry. From my journey in banking to leading Salesforce India, I’ve witnessed how vision and innovation can transform lives and businesses,” said Bhattacharya.

She joined Salesforce in 2020 as the chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India. Under her guidance, the company’s India arm claims to have achieved a 36% jump in total revenue to INR 9,116.3 Cr in FY25.

With more than 40 years of experience in the Indian financial sector, Bhattacharya started her career at the State Bank of India (SBI) as a probation officer. She is also widely known for being the first woman to chair SBI from 2013-2017.

Besides, her string of contributions also include introducing sabbatical leave for women bank employees. During her tenure as SBI chairperson, Bhattacharya focused on digitisation, technology, improving delivery standards, cost reduction, non-performing asset (NPA) reduction and risk management.

She introduced several digital initiatives including mobile apps for retail, SME and corporate customers, “digital-only” banking branches, AI and robotics for credit analysis, risk management to enhance customer experience.

After her retirement, Bhattacharya joined the board of Indian multinational conglomerate Piramal Group as the independent director. She also served as the independent director at IT consultancy giant Wipro.

Currently, Bhattacharya is serving as the independent director for Reliance Industries Limited.

Venture capital firm Accel India’s founding partner Prashanth Prakash and Indian-American entrepreneur and investor Vinod Dham have also been named among the Padma awardees for the year 2025.

Prakash received Padma Shri for his “distinguished service” in the field of trade and industry. On the other hand, Dham received Padma Bhushan for his contribution in the area of “science and engineering”.