India, Feb. 24 -- In her Netflix documentary, 'Martha', the American billionaire and tastemaker Martha Stewart says, "I have two mottos: Learn something new every day, and that when you're through with change, you're through. Move on." Their personal stories may be different but Stewart and Chanda Kochhar have shared a similar arc of heroic rise and a steep fall. Both have been nationally known figures who faced inglorious exits from their respective companies over allegations of fiduciary impropriety, followed by jail stints.

But since we now live in an age of Hollywood iconography which demands that redemption be the third arc, Chanda Kochhar, Indian banking's one-time golden girl and now its cautionary tale, is attempting a comeback i...