New Delhi: Arundhati Bhattacharya, the chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI), has been named as the most powerful woman in business in India by Fortune magazine.

ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Ms Bhattacharya at the second and the third places, respectively.

In the Fortune India list of 50 most powerful businesswomen, there are as many as eight new entrants. Two first timers - Ms Bhattacharya and Nishi Vasudeva, the chairperson and MD HPCL (4th) - have made a cut into the top 10.

Ms Bhattacharya, chairperson of India's largest lender, made to number one spot "due to her relentless fight against bad loans", Fortune India said.

"Since she took over a year or so, she has improved assets quality, cut costs and recapitalised SBI. That's no mean feat when you consider that SBI has 190 foreign offices, a market cap of Rs 1.9 lakh crore and 2,22,033 employees," the magazine pointed out.

These powerful women represent various sectors such as banking, finance, healthcare, media, fashion and entertainment.

Other new entrants include Shahnaz Husain, founder of Shahnaz Group of Companies, Zarin Daruwala, president-wholesale banking at ICICI Bank, Archana Hingorani, CEO and executive director at IL&FS Investment Managers, Vani Kola, managing director at Kalaari Capital, and Valerie Wagoner, managing director at Zipdial.

"The country's most powerful women in business once again show that people may change, but the idea of power does not," the magazine added further.

The other women who figure in the top 10 include Zia Mody, co-founder of AZB Partners, Mallika Srinivasan, CEO of TAFE, Aruna Jayanthi, CEO of Capgemini India, Preetha Reddy, Managing Director at Apollo Hospital Enterprise, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson and managing director at Biocon.