It’s not everyday that you find a woman at the top in the banking sector. That’s why Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson of the State Bank of India shines like a diamond. The first woman chairperson of SBI and the youngest leader the bank has ever seen, she was recently awarded Ernst & Young’s Women Entrepreneurial CEO of the Year award. An award well-earned for sure!
Arundhati’s stint in the world of banking and finance began when she joined SBI at the age of 22 as a probationary officer. With a career spanning 36 years, she has certainly come a long way with multiple roles-treasury, foreign exchange, human resources, retail operations and investment banking. Yet her most challenging role has been that of setting up new businesses for the bank and establishing joint ventures and tie-ups.
A people’s person, Bhattacharya likes to interact with different people and enjoys her work of meeting new people every day. Her credentials only become larger than life when you discover that the first and only woman chairperson of SBI manages approximately 220,000 staff members and 15,000 branches.
Last year, Arundhati was listed as the 36th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine and we hardly need to ask why. That’s why it’s rather shocking that when Arundhati was a child was more interested in literature and also chose English as her major in college. But thanks to fate, she landed a job with State Bank of India, and it is here that she learnt the ropes in banking.
She has realised how Indian women are cut off from public sector banking and has even shared her earlier experiences where the most basic worry women would have is whether or not there would be a separate women’s washroom because no woman might have ever been employed before. She has won accolades for having introduced the two-year sabbatical policy for women employees for child and elder care.
Born in Kolkata, Arundhati has lived in various parts of the country and has even served her term at the SBI’s New York branch.
Bhattacharya, who once was ready to quit her job when she was asked to move to Lucknow and handle SBI’s rural banks in Uttar Pradesh because she couldn’t find a suitable school for her child, has many admirers for her no-nonsense approach and honesty, which has helped restore the reputation of the public sector bank, both in terms of management and customer relations.
Her job has revolved around getting the banks finances settled along with bringing in a new approach towards the quickly evolving banking culture. This role makes her not only the most senior woman in Indian finance but a prominent face in the global banking scenario.
Arundhati’s flamboyant career graph is an inspiration for all aspiring women in the banking sector and winning this award only gives young girls more hope of recognition and appreciation.
Image courtesy: BCCL
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