Milind G
Yes, women on top! Some eyebrows are being raised. Don’t get me wrong. Yes, I am referring to Indian women – on-top of the corporate world. A woman becoming the managing director of the country’s biggest bank or occupying the top position in business is welcome and indeed long overdue. It is a small step in the right direction which paves the way for other talented women to follow.
Arundhati Bhattacharya is set to take over as SBI’s first woman Chairman. 57-year-old Arundhati Bhattacharya, who us currently Managing director and Chief financial officer is set to take over the top job for a period of three years. Sources say, finance minister P Chidambaram cleared Bhattacharya’s appointment as MD, while RBI and Central Vigilance Commission have also given green signal. The proposal now needs to be endorsed by the appointment committee of cabinet headed by PM Manmohan Singh.
The male bastion was shattered more than a decade ago when Ranjana Kumar was appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank and is widely credited with its turn around. Even now there are at least three women public sector bank chiefs. In private sector, we have Chanda Kochar, as ICICI Bank’s MD & CEO and her former colleague Shika Sharma heads Axis Bank.
Other women bosses who are at the top in banks and other sectors are:
Naina Lal Kidwai, Group GM & Country Head, HSBC India.
Kalpana Morparia, CEO, JP Morgan India.
Kaku Nakhate, President & Country Head (India), BOFA-ML.
Vijayalakshmi Iyer, Chairperson, Bank of India.
Shubhalakshmi Panse, Chairperson, Allahabad Bank.
Archana Bhargava, Chairperson, United Bank of India.
Wipro has appointed Ireena Vittal to its board of directors. This helps the company meet the new requirement to have at least one woman on the board. Today women make-up only 5.2% of Indian boardrooms, much lower than the global figure of 10.5%.
What we need is a workplace culture that is much more sensitive and friendly to the special needs of working women. Only when support of this kind are put in place and society attitudes change that recognises that educated and skilled women are very much part of the workforce as men, can we see many more experienced and talented women at the helm of business and corporate world.
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