Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Ltd. has been included in the prestigious 'Top 50 women in business' listing by Financial Times, London. The report, compiled in collaboration with recruitment group Egon Zehnder International, celebrates women business leaders around the world and this year's list features three Indians.

FT used a range of factors to assess the candidates including biographical information, data on the size of the company (turnover and number of employees), its scope and complexity (operations in multiple countries or sectors) and the competitive landscape. Total shareholder return was also used to gauge corporate performance. This varied according to the country, sector and characteristics of the company. Women running companies with a multinational reach were likely to rank more highly than those in charge of nationally focused groups.

The number of women business leaders around the world remains miniscule. Just three per cent of Fortune 500 chief executives are women. Across Europe, only 10 per cent of board directors of the largest companies are female (quotas have made Norway the exception, with more than 40 per cent) and the numbers are even lower in Asia. There is substantial evidence that better gender balance has a positive impact on performance. Studies by Catalyst and McKinsey in the US and Europe have found a correlation between the number of women in a company's leadership and the company's profitability.