Today's woman is much more confident and sure of herself: NSDL's Padmaja Chunduru

The situation for women is improving in the banking and financial services sector, and the woman of today is a far more self-aware and self-confident person, Padmaja Chunduru, the managing director and chief executive officer of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview on March 8.

"Despite all the major hurdles, things are changing for women in all sectors in India, and I think that today's woman is much more confident, much more sure of herself, "said Chunduru.

Mining down to what she thought was the biggest challenge women in the world of finance face today, she identified transfers, particularly in the sphere of public sector banks, pointing to the frequent relocations required, with this often happening every three years at the senior level. During her interaction, she added that representation of women in the higher echelons is woefully inadequate. Edited excerpts:

How do you see women's participation in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector?

It is a fact that even today the participation of women in the banking sector is low, though it has improved from 10 percent in the 1990s to maybe 28-29 percent now. In some banks like Indian Bank, it was more than 30 percent at the clerical level, and maybe up to the first two levels of officer grade also. But beyond that, it very steeply tapers off.

What could be the reasons for lower participation of women in the BFSI sector?

Among several reasons, the mindset issue is one. If there are responsibilities involving the home and office, I think it's not just the woman’s duty to do the bulk of the household chores. Somehow that has been the mindset, not just in India but everywhere, globally actually. India is much better in some aspects compared to even the US. India is much better in terms of meritocracy. However, the mindset in most cases is that a woman, yes, she can work, but has to be playing second fiddle to the husband, and is counted as a secondary source of income.

Normally, they are not expected to rise very high or do very well for themselves. Career orientation comes secondary to family orientation. And these are things very well drilled into even very educated girls' minds.

Another big hurdle, especially in the BFSI sector, is transfer posting. I've seen that in public sector banks you have a frequent—at a higher level, you get transferred every three years. That is a big hurdle. But I also think that it is more in the mind. Because once we start negotiating those challenges, there are very good opportunities available in terms of both career growth and exposure, both for us and for the children.

How do you see things changing now?

Amid all hurdles, things are improving for working women in society and in the BSFI sector as well. I think today's woman is much more confident and sure of herself. And economic independence is recognised as very important by parents also.

I think for men also, it's equally important, but somehow, it always comes down to the women—how you select your partner, and whether you have that discussion and have that same ambition, the commitment to support—it's mutual help. If I am doing something, it's not for my sake, it's also for the family. That realisation and that mutual understanding, if it is there, becomes very, very helpful. And—because many times you'll hear that successful women are either single or they have a 'happy married life'. A happy married life is too general a thing—what is needed here is a supportive spouse.

As a woman leader in the financial sector, what challenges have you faced, and how have you overcome them?

I wish we could say that all the troubles and challenges ended with that generation because I belong to the earlier generation where we were working in the 1990s, when the facilities in various cities and towns were slightly different from now.

Personally, my mother was a big force behind our education. We were all girls in the house, but she was hell-bent—she could not work, so she almost thrust her ambitions on us. For her, a bank job was the ultimate because she had regular interactions with banks. And then there was meritocracy because with competitive exams, you were not judged based on your gender but only based on merit.

And so we all went the way of banking examinations and being probationers in various banks and all that. So, I think from there on, SBI (State Bank of India) has been a good employer. I think the approachability of the bosses was something and there were some role models, at least at middle levels, for us to observe and learn from.

How are you working for women at NSDL?

I think we had about 10-12 percent women. Again, the same issue that at the lower levels, we might have some numbers, but today it is about 26 percent or so of total employees. At the higher levels, there is still a vacuum. I think now we have three or four at the AVP (assistant vice president) level who are women. One thing that HR has done, to their credit, is to ensure that there are women candidates in every recruitment. After that, selection is based on merit only. But at least getting women in the room is something that I think is working well. Also facilities-wise, we have provided doctors on call and all these things—that is for both men and women. Now we are moving to new premises in BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex, the South Mumbai business district), where we will have a full-fledged medical facility, among other things.