Aisha De Sequeira, 

Growth might have been a tad slow, but De Sequeira was busy with seven cross-border deals last year, including the $335 million primary capital raising by L&T IDPL from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. Other key transactions were the sale of a controlling stake in Hexaware to Barings PE Asia, M&A advisory to Reliance Jio on spectrum rights acquisition for $1.8 billion, and a $500 million QIP for Idea, closed within a month of the Lok Sabha election results. De Sequeira, who is the youngest in her family and hence “used to fighting”, has been with Morgan Stanley for nearly 20 years and spends a fair amount of time mentoring her team. “I was very fortunate to have great mentors and I hope to do my part going forward,” she says.