Sunday 14 September 2014
Saturday 13 September 2014
Arundhathi Bhattacharya, - Chairperson of State Bank of India
Arundhathi
Bhattacharya, is the first woman to be
the Chairperson of State Bank of India. In 2014, she was listed as
the 36th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
The journey of Bhattacharya, 58, has been full
of challenges. Her formative years were spent in east India. Bhattacharya's
father was an engineer at Bhilai Steel Plant, West Bengal. She finished her
schooling at St Xavier's School in Bokaro Steel City where teachers spotted her
flair for English literature and encouraged her to pursue further studies in
the subject. "The father at my school felt that the creative field will be
right for me," remembers Bhattacharya. She heeded the advice of her teachers
and took English literature as a subject during her graduation at Kolkata's
Lady Brabourne College and postgraduation at Jadavpur University.
Bhattacharya has been posted in all
corners of the country - north, south, east and west. She also had a stint at
SBI's New York office, overseeing branch performance and audit. Bhattacharya
says each job that came her way was challenging. "Retail is very different
from corporate," she says, who has honed her skills in foreign exchange, treasury, retail and corporate operations. Bhattacharya
has done Human Resources towards the fag end of her career and has also been an
investment banker.
But the turning point, according to
her, came when she got involved with setting up new businesses for the bank.
She was actively involved in establishing joint ventures for the bank,
including the tie-up with Insurance Australia Group for general insurance,
Macquarie for private equity and Societe Generale for custodial services.
Looking back, she finds her one-year
assignment with SBI Capital as MD and CEO very challenging and satisfying.
"At SBI Cap, I learnt to look at the bank from outside. It did make a big
difference in my career," says Bhattacharya. "Unlike SBI, you have to
fend for yourself at the subsidiary. You have to earn profits to pay the
salaries," she says.
Bhattacharya likes interacting with
people. "I'm busy learning and meeting new people at my job and never get
bored," she says. As the first woman chairperson of the bank, she also
wants to meet the expectations of women employees who constitute 20 per cent of
SBI's workforce. Bhattacharya has already taken a lot of initiatives for them,
including a two-year sabbatical to pursue higher education, a transfer policy
which allows them to be close to their family, and special training programmes
to enrich their professional lives. "I'm also considering some kind of
flexi timing and temporary deputation for women who are planning to start a
family and want to be with their parents or in-laws."
She wonders why there are few women
in the public sector banks. "I don't find that many women now in the GM
and DGM (Deputy General Manager) category in PSU banks," she says. However,
SBI has a healthy pipeline of women managers. "We have 12 women in the CGM
and upwards category," says Bhattacharya.
Piyush Singh, MD of Accenture's
Financial Services says Bhattacharya wanted to remove the perception that
public sector banks are laggards, particularly in technology. He has worked
very closely with Bhattacharya and her team on launching SBI's 'digital
branches'. "I do not believe anybody (private banks) has taken a lead in
the digital banking space like SBI," he says. But Bhattacharya will have
to ensure that SBI scales up its digital banking initiatives fast to remain
ahead of the competition.
Clearly, Bhattacharya is a perfect
role model. Her success story will inspire many women to take up banking as a
career in the years ahead and even vie for the top jobs.