Chanda Kochhar - achiever

"EVEN though I have worked for one institution for the nineteen years of my career, I feel that I worked for several companies," says Chanda Kochhar, executive director of the ICICI Bank in Mumbai. After graduating from Mumbai’s Bajaj Institute of Management in business management and completing her cost accountancy course, she joined ICICI as a management trainee in 1984."But in the 19 years since then, the ICICI has evolved so much and so many new activities and endeavours have been initiated, that I feel I have worked for several companies," says Chanda.

Firstly, every two years, she was promoted regularly so that her job profile changed, often dramatically. New things happened at ICICI almost every day and Chanda was head of commercial banking, then she was in charge of major client servicing followed by infrastructure investments. And finally, in retail banking. For 14 years, Chanda was a corporate banker. For the last three years she has been a retail banker. "I work in tandem with ICICI Mutual Fund and ICICI Insurance, though they are separate companies. My present job includes building a strong network of branches of the ICICI bank, creating as many ATMs as possible, building a call-centre network, credit cards and other functions of a retail banking system. Today, within a short span, ICICI has become the largest retail finance bank, thanks to the effort of our dedicated teams," says Chanda.

Though Chanda’s phenomenal success in a financial institution is unique, she says that women have made unprecedented forays in the world of finance and banking. To name just a few luminaries, she mentions the names of Tarjani Vakil who is the former chairperson and managing director of the Exim Bank; Lalita Gupte, joint managing director of ICICI; Naina Lal Kidwai of Morgan Stanley; Sonal Dave of HSBC Securities; Shikha Sharma who heads ICICI’s insurance activities and Renuka Ramnath who heads ICICI’s venture finance division. There are many women at the executive director or general manager level in the Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India.

"This is not surprising," says Chanda, "I believe that women have a great capability to flourish in any job they choose. Earlier, India had a manufacturing economy. The finance and banking sector was comparatively small. The mindset of society was that women could not work on the shop floor in manufacturing industries. But things have changed now. The old mindset is not relevant to finance. Secondly, banking needs a correct and deep understanding of money and the minds of people. It is a multi-faceted business. One has to be in the shoes of a customer to look at money and investment or saving from his/her point of view. Because women themselves are passionate and multi-faceted by nature, they fit this business very well. That is why so many women have done exceedingly well in this sector.

"On the other side of coin," Chanda continues, "Urban or rural educated women are participating in financial-decision making within the family. They are aware partners in a marriage and together with their husbands they decide on the ratio between safe instruments and risk factor investments. They decide the priorities of their families — a house, a car, holidays, children’s education and savings for later years — and apportion money accordingly, in consultation with their husbands. In educated families, men no longer take financial decisions by themselves. Moreover, a huge number of women are in business or jobs themselves. India has the largest number of women entrepreneurs and they are doing exceedingly well. At our bank, we advise them about seeking funding or equity to make their projects cost efficient and quick profit making. We help them to check out the best methods of getting funding for their ventures. The reasons why Indian women can venture into entrepreneurship on such a large scale are:

First, whatever may be the retro features of our society, Indians generally hold courageous women in esteem. When a woman shows fortitude and asserts her point of view, they quite often listen. Secondly, the joint family culture offers a choice for modern women. They can depend upon the infrastructure offered by parents, in-laws or other relatives and friends if they care to build and nurture these relationships. The comfort of a joint family is not available to women anywhere else in the world. Thirdly, there is household help available in Indian cities until now."

Chanda believes that women can deal with any issue of life on the basis of equality and need no special privileges. They can perform whatever task given to them with efficiency and responsibility. "This has been proved in projects undertaken by our rural branches. ICICI has almost 100 rural branches in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, we have helped to set up self-help groups in villages. These 8500 groups, comprising of 20 people each, make up almost 1.5 lakh people, of whom 95 per cent are women. These women are pro-active to change and progress. We encourage them to save, to learn how to deal with money, to pool money to gives loans to each other and impress upon them the absolute need to repay all loans on time. We hope to replicate this project in other states."

Chanda is married to a businessman and has a 14-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. "I have not faced major problems in my career because my husband is understanding and co-operative. My in-laws live in the neighbouring building and help whenever I need them. My parents come and take charge of the children when I am away for long periods. We spend a good deal of time with the children and each other. Yes, I have heard the argument that children of women who work as hard as I do can become dysfunctional. Paediatricians and social scientists have expressed this opinion. Children of non-working mothers are dysfunctional too. The answer is a rich and value-based family life, which has to be built by all concerned. Women must learn the value of building relationships within the family and among friends so that children too can have several people to look up to rather than just their parents. "I was fond of dramatics and elocution in my college days. I sometimes play badminton on weekends. But I have no hesitation in saying that I absolutely love my work. It is my passion as well as my relaxation."