Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Wednesday appointed former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya as an independent additional director of the company.

"Arundhati Bhattacharya is appointed for a period of five years commencing from October 17, 2018, subject to approval of the shareholders," the company said in an exchange filing.

Bhattacharya, 62, was the first woman chairman of SBI. She also has hands-on experience in India's financial sector of working across varied roles and diverse national and international locations.

Forbes magazine has ranked her 25th in their list of "most powerful women in the world" and fifth in "the most powerful women in finance" category in 2016. Bhattacharya has also been featured in the Fortune list of top 50 globally most powerful women in business and ranked among the top five in the Asia-Pacific region.