Arundhati Bhattacharya is a retired Indian banker and the first woman to hold the top position in the Indian public sector giant – State Bank of India. He presided over the country’s largest commercial bank as Chairman and Managing Director for four years till October 2017. Ms. Bhattacharya also achieved the feat of being the first woman to lead a Fortune India 500 company and the only woman banker in the world to do so. , The veteran banker is also the youngest managing director and chief financial officer of SBI.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Arundhati Bhattacharya was born in Kolkata on Sunday, 18 March 1956 (age 65 years; as in 2021) under the Pisces zodiac sign. Raised in the cities of Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) and Bokaro (Jharkhand), she completed her schooling from St. Xavier’s School in Bokaro and moved to Kolkata to pursue graduation in English Literature at Lady Brabourne College. Arundhati then attended Jadavpur University, Kolkata, from 1972 to 1974 to pursue a Master of Arts degree in English.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 3″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
Arundhati belongs to a Bengali family.
parents and siblings
Her father, Prodyut Kumar Mukherjee, worked as an electrical engineer at the Bhilai Steel Plant, while Arundhati’s mother, Kalyani Mukherjee, was a homeopathic consultant who died at the age of 90. He has an elder sister Aditi Basu and a brother.
husband and children
Arundhati married Pritimoy Bhattacharya in 1983. Her husband is a former professor at IIT-Kharagpur, who later held the position of director at Techno India Group.
Arundhati Bhattacharya’s husband with his daughter
The couple has a daughter named Sukrita Bhattacharya.
Arundhati Bhattacharya with her daughter Sukrita
livelihood
milestones
- Since April 2020: President and CEO of Salesforce India
- Since December 2018: President of SWIFT India
- Since December 2018: Board of Directors of Reliance Industries Limited
- December 2018 – April 2020: Board of Directors of Wipro Limited
- December 2018 – April 2020: Piramal Group Board of Directors
- October 2018 – April 2020: Additional Director (Independent), CRISIL Limited.
- 2013-2017: Chairman and MD of SBI
- 2009: In-charge of SBI in Karnataka
- 2007: GM, Mumbai branch of SBI, and promoted as Chief General Manager
- 2000: DGM in the External Affairs Department of Kolkata Branch of SBI.
- 1996-2000: Vice President, Branch Coordinator, New York Office of SBI
- 1983-1992: Worked at Kharagpur branch of SBI and left as Assistant General Manager
- 1977: Joined SBI as probationary officer
initial days in sbi
A young 21-year-old Arundhati, studying at SBI’s training school in Hyderabad, began her four-decade-long journey at the largest Indian public sector bank on the auspicious Panchami day of the Durga Puja festival in September 1977. She joined the 214 year old institution of SBI as a Probationary Officer in Alipore, Kolkata. In an interview, Arundhati recalled her first day in SBI and said,
It was my first day at work – and starting my training on the job, I was given the task of writing checks and entering their details. The branch was surrounded by a crowd of people… To control the crowd they soon had to close the gate and started going inside. I remember every moment of the day and my hands aching as I nervously kept writing checks, making sure there were no mistakes. I remember the huge crowd and their rush to withdraw money before the banks closed for the festive season. It was a day of baptism by fire.
The banker soon got posted at the Junior Management Grade-1 level in the Kolkata main branch of SBI, from where he was transferred to the local head office. About six years after joining the bank, Bhattacharya was appointed to its Kharagpur branch, where he served for nine years. During her tenure at Kharagpur, the banker was promoted thrice and eventually reached the rank of Assistant General Manager upon leaving the branch. While at the bank, Arundhati also served as Chief Executive of State Bank of India Capital Markets and Chief General Manager in charge of various new projects. In 1996, she moved to the US to manage external audit and correspondent relations at SBI’s New York branch and remained there until 2000. Over the next decade, the banker held various positions in the Mumbai branch of SBI, and was promoted as Deputy MD. of SBI in 2011.
As Chairman of SBI
On October 1, 2013, Ms. Bhattacharya replaced Pratip Choudhary and created history by becoming the first woman Chairman and MD of SBI after serving as Deputy MD and CFO for two years. The appointment of the first woman chairperson was reportedly all in the news as the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had personally recommended her among all the managing directors of SBI who also contested for the top post. Apparently, this situation had arisen due to a last minute change in the rule book by the Indian Finance Ministry. Arundhati led the mammoth institution when SBI and other public sector banks were facing challenges due to the pile up of bad loans and the asset quality of SBI was deteriorating. During her important four-year tenure as the head of the bank, Ms. Bhattacharya played a key role in making the bank a women-friendly workplace. She introduced policies such as two years’ maternity or aged care sabbatical leave for female employees, free vaccination against cervical cancer and the option to work from home for women.
The veteran banker ended her 40-year-long tenure at India’s largest public sector bank and retired as its chairperson in October 2017, a year after her official 3-year tenure. In 2016, Arundhati’s tenure was extended to ensure the smooth merger of five associate banks of SBI and Bharatiya Mahila Bank. This decision was taken jointly by the Government of India and the Banks Board Bureau (BBB). In her final days at the bank, Arundhati hinted at her post-retirement plans. He said in an interview,
I don’t think I’ll move into banking but, obviously, I’m not just going to quit my position. Nowadays, 60 is too early an age. Of course, I am 60 years old but it does not matter. There’s a lot to do and if you have the energy and desire to do it, I think you can do it. So, definitely, I will be around and active but maybe not directly in banking.”
post retirement
On 17 October 2018, a year after her retirement, Ms Bhattacharya assumed the position of Independent Director on the Board of Reliance Industries for five years. In the same month, he also accepted to sit on the Board of Directors of CRISIL Limited as Additional Director (Independent) of the company. While at CRISIL, Arundhati accepted the position of Chairperson and CEO of SWIFT India in December 2018. On 16 April 2020, the banker resigned from the board of Crisil Limited to work as chairperson and chief executive of the India division of Salesforce. – Global leader in CRM.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 2014, Arundhati was named the 24th most powerful woman in Asia-Pacific by Fortune magazine. She ranked first in Fortune India’s list of Most Powerful Women in Business for three consecutive years from 2014 to 2017.
- The banker was listed as the 30th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2015. She was also recognized as the Outstanding Female Business Leader of the Year at the 10th India Business Leader Awards in the same year.
- The following year, her ranking improved five places and she was named the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In 2016, Ms. Bhattacharya was also named among the “FP Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine. In the same year, she was also honored with the “Woman of the Year Award” for her banking and financial service by the then Governor of Maharashtra.
- Ms Bhattacharya was ranked 19th in the list of India’s 50 most powerful people by India Today magazine in 2017.
- In 2018, Arundhati was named “Business Leader of the Year” at The Asian Awards. She was also awarded the ninth VC Padmanabhan Memorial Awards for Excellence, and her interview titled “Arundhati Bhattacharya: The Making of SBI’s First Woman Chairperson” was published on Harvard Business Review Ascendant.
Arundhati Bhattacharya with her award in 2018
- She was one of the nominees for the post of Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer representing India at the World Bank.
Favorite
- Book: 14: Stories that Inspired Satyajit Ray, by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
Salary
Arundhati Bhattacharya around Rs. Took it home. 28.96 lakh in FY 2016-2017 during his last year as SBI Chairman.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Arundhati likes to read books in her free time and is also fond of yoga.
- Ms. Bhattacharya revealed in an interview that she always wanted to do a PhD and learn Sanskrit. Furthermore, according to some reports, the banker had expressed her desire to choose journalism as her career when she was pursuing her post-graduation in English Literature. Reportedly, she reached SBI after clearing the bank’s examination conducted for various posts.
- Arundhati, who lived in Kolkata and Mumbai, until her retirement from SBI, was in a long-distance marriage with her husband, who mainly lived in Kharagpur or Kolkata. He said in an interview,
In 1993, I joined the commercial branch in Kolkata while my husband was still at IIT Kharagpur. Before my daughter Sukrita was born in April 1995, I used to travel on weekends to meet her. Then he will cover the distance. When I was posted in Mumbai in 2008, it was my first stint. My husband remained in Kolkata. He will travel to stay with us for two weeks.
- At SBI, Arundhati oversaw retail operations, investment banking, human resources, treasury and foreign exchange. According to SBI, she led the digital transformation at the bank and was responsible for the launch of several initiatives at the bank, such as SBI Custodial Services, SBI General Insurance, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, SBI Pension Funds Pvt. Ltd., and SBI SG Global Securities Services. He also played an important role in setting up IT platforms like mobile banking and e-commerce in the bank.
- Under his leadership, SBI shares rose 57% after the bank sold its stake in SBI Life Insurance.
- According to Ms. Bhattacharya, she almost quit her job at SBI after getting posted in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2006. He said in an interview,
I seriously thought about giving up. I was worried that the kind of integrated school my daughter wanted would not be available in the city. My husband had returned from America and started doing consultancy work in Kolkata. He didn’t want to give up and start from scratch.
- She became the first chairperson in the history of SBI to get a fixed tenure of three years when her superannuation age exceeds 60 years.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn