Libraries Of Leaders: What Leading Ladies Of Corporate India Are Reading 

On this week’s edition of Libraries of Leaders we asked three leading Indian women business leaders what some of their favourite books were and why. Arundhati Bhattacharya of State Bank of India, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, and Renu Sud Karnad of HDFC are globally respected and these are the volumes that find a prominent place on their bookshelves.

1. Arundhati Bhattacharya

Arundhati Bhattacharya became the first woman chairman of India's largest public sector bank SBI in 2013. She was ranked the fifth most influential woman in global finance and the 25th most influential woman overall by Forbes magazine this year . She was also one of the contenders to succeed Raghuram Rajan as governor of the Reserve Bank of India. She shared some of her favourite books with BloombergQuint.

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Widely regarded as a literary masterpiece, the book became an instant hit when it was first published in 1960, and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1961. It was also adapted into an academy award-winning film starring Gregory Peck in 1963. The book centres around the trial of a black man accused of raping and murdering a white woman set in Alabama in the 1930s.

What sets the book apart is that it is narrated through the eyes of two young children as their father defends this man in a racially bigoted society.

2. Ramakrishna Kathamrita by Mahendranath Gupta

The book was originally published in Bengali in five volumes between 1902 and 1923, and chronicles the life and experiences of Indian mystic Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Mahendranath Gupta, famously known as M, met Ramakrishna in 1882, and inspired by his teachings, started to maintain a record of Ramakrishna's conversations and actions which finally took the shape of this book.

3. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

This classic short novel describes an old Cuban fisherman battling a giant marlin far out at sea. The central theme of the book is the triumph of courage and perseverance in the face of extreme adversity. According to Bhattacharya, the book beautifully captures the “raw power of nature, and the indomitable will of man”.

2. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the founder of one of India’s premiere biotechnology companies, Biocon Ltd . She is also the chairman of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and has been awarded the Padma Shri in 1989 and the Padma Bhushan in 2005. She had an eclectic list of books to share with us this week.

1. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

The book is a stirring account of a young neurosurgeon diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. It traces his journey from then on, as he tries to make sense of what makes life worth living in the face of death, what it means to have a child and the relationship between a doctor and a patient. The book was completed by the author’s wife after his death in 2015.

2. Half Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India by Vinay Sitapati

This is the story of how an “unlikely” Prime Minister not only held together a coalition government for the full term but also successfully steered India’s economy away from accepted and almost revered doctrines. The book dwells on his ability to get reforms through while walking a political tightrope.

3. Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The book explains the concept of heredity and the role it plays in our lives – something Mazumdar said is little talked about and almost underappreciated. It also dwells on the importance of understanding the human gene.

3. Renu Sud Karnad

Renu Sud Karnad has been managing director of HDFC Ltd. since 2010. She is a law graduate, holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Delhi University, and is a Parvin fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University. Here are the books that find a prominent place on her bookshelf.

1. Fish: A Proven Way To Boost Morale And Improve Results by Stephen C Ludin, Harry Paul and John Christensen

The book uses the rather unlikely setting of a fish market to explain how adopting certain simple methods and techniques can help one approach work in a whole new way.

2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This 1939 novel won both a Pulitzer prize and a National Book Award and has been adapted into a Hollywood film directed by John Ford. It is the story of a poor Midwestern family forced off their land, and their subsequent journey to California in search for work.

3. How Google Works by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenburg and Alan Eagle

The book describes how adaptability is the name of the game for those seeking to succeed in an ever-changing industry, impacted by the internet, mobile phones and cloud computing .