Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women of Indian Banking

‘Here we are in 2011, and how odd is it that only a dozen Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs?’

-         Patricia Sellers, Fortune

Look for banks’ CEOs in America and the chances are you may not find many women at the top in these institutions. In fact, the latest Fortune 500 has only a dozen women CEOs in its list. So unfortunate. This is despite the fact that ‘placing women in key positions pays off for investors,’ comments Patricia Sellers of Fortune in one of her recent posts. Indian banking sector should be applauded for breaking the proverbial glass ceiling and giving female managers equal opportunities, at part with their male counterparts, and encourage them to lead from the front.

"It is very difficult for women to break the glass ceiling here (West)," Sheila Wellington, clinical professor of management at New York University's Stern School of Business told the Times of India in an interview. Given that, kudos to banks like ICICI Bank (Chanda Kochhar - CEO), Axis Bank (Shikha Sharma - CEO), Kalpana Morparia (Country Head – JP Morgan India), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC), Madhavi Puri Buch (CEO – ICICI Securities), Manish Girotra (MD - UBS), Renuka Ramnath, Meera Sanyal (India Head - RBS) amongst others, today’s Indian banks stand taller compared to their western counterparts when it comes to breaking the glass ceiling.

According to the executive research firm, EMA Partners, in India, 54% of the women CEOs are from the financial services sector. So what makes female managers succeed well in banking and financial services? “You got your next big challenge based on your performance and your potential, not whether you were male or female,” Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank, said in an interview to NY Times. In another study Standard Chartered Bank found that the financial sector performs best in terms of gender diversity, nine of the eleven banks listed on BSE-100 have a woman on their board, said a report in the Times of India.

In fact, many researchers have attributed Indian banking sector’s ability to scrape through the worst global financial crisis (of 2008) in living memory without getting hurt to their women power (read: women at top).  "Women are not driven by wanting to just show numbers," TOI quoted Renu Sud Karnad, MD of HDFC, India’s leading mortgage lender, as saying. She further added, "Women are more practical and moderate in risk taking."   

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Besides women managers also possess certain qualities such as: they are sensitive, caring and less vulnerable to corruption.

While banking sector can look forward to continue the good work in this regard, there is a need for other organization too to ensure that they work towards improving gender equity at work and equally importantly make sure that a deserving female manager gets opportunity to occupy that corner office, CEO’s office. And also, other key positions.

(To be concluded….)