[3] Her father served in the Indian Army, reaching the rank of brigadier in the ordnance corps and fought in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars.
[5] Despite an interest in studying physics, she graduated with a BA (Honours) in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
[8][9] Sharma and Chanda Kochhar were contenders to succeed K. V. Kamath as the CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank in 2009.
Sharma's appointment as managing director and CEO for a five-year term was confirmed by shareholders on 1 June 2009 with immediate effect.
[3] In April 2012, Axis Bank announced the closure of the deal after cutting the value to one-third to "reflect market conditions.
[16] The bank's compounded annual net profit growth rate was above 20 per cent in the three years ending 2014–15.
[21] In 2015, the bank was awarded a "Certificate of Recognition for excellence in Corporate Governance" from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
[22] It was also ranked the "Most Trusted Private Sector Bank" for the second year in a row in a 2015 survey conducted by The Economic Times.
[28] Sharma announced in December that the bank had hired KPMG to conduct a forensic audit and vowed to "enhance due diligence and build more safeguards.
"[29] In July 2017, Axis Bank squashed rumours that Sharma would be joining the Tata Group and announced a three-year extension to her term as CEO.
[33] Axis Bank notified the National Stock Exchange of India on 9 April 2018 that Sharma would retire as the managing director and CEO on 31 December 2018.
[36][37] Piramal Enterprises announced on 1 April 2022 that it had appointed Shikha Sharma as a 'Non-Executive-Non-Independent Director' with effect from 31 March subject to approval by shareholders.
[38][39] She also serves as an advisor to Google Pay, NextBillion Technology, Bahaar Foundation and is a member of the board of governors of Indian Institute of Management Lucknow.