Women are an economic imperative for the nation, says Chanda Kochhar

On a pleasant evening at the Taj Hotel Terrace in Colaba, Mumbai, four women chief executives officers (CEOs) converged on the dais to assert with a mix of pride and candour that women were no longer showpieces in the boardroom. Rather, as ICICI MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar put it: "Women are no longer part of CSR or corporate social responsibility. They are an economic imperative for the nation."

For one, women comprise almost half of India's population, yet less than 5 per cent women are corporate directors and less than half of that are independent directors.

Both genders in a boardroom can lead to a healthy mixing of perspectives, noted Kochhar while moderating a panel discussion with three other young women executives from well-known corporate groups — Nisa Godrej (COO of Godrej Industries), Aparna Piramal (daughter of Dilip and Gita Piramal, and executive director of BlowPlast Ergonomics) and Lakshmi Venu (Director-Strategy of Sundaram-Clayton).

All the women on the dais felt the role of women as CEOs do not get enough recognition. For instance, women CEOs have to execute both responsibilities — one to their company and employees, and the other to their families. "This is a fact of life, and I consider it a privilege to execute both these responsibilities," said Kochhar.

"As you grow older, you appreciate what a woman in power has to sacrifice, and how easily she does it." Piramal should know since both her mother and father have been in management positions. "It's only when I grew older did I realise and appreciate that my mom had a serious job. She (Aparna's mother) made it look so easy," said Piramal.

"But, how does one groom women CEOs?" Kochhar asked Venu. "Creating an organisation that is fast-paced is one such way," said Venu, who believes that today's organisations need a push. Piramal, on the other hand, felt that teamwork is essential to achieve success. "Getting project management right remains a challenge," she said. Godrej, on her part, felt she "was too young to have a formed opinion on the subject".

"Being a woman has not made anything different for me. So, in the five years that I've worked with the TVS Group as director-strategy of Sundaram-Clayton, I have worked double shifts, doing my doctorate in the evening while managing boardroom meetings in the morning," noted 26-year-old Venu. She added as a matter of fact that "being a boss’ daughter meant extra work, as everyone looked up to you”. Venu did her doctorate "to prove that she had the credibility to own the job”.

Piramal said that "being a woman means that you need to prove your credibility to assert yourself, and we have the credibility to be where we are". She did admit, though, that "it does become easier for the scions of corporate groups who have a well-defined path in the company laid out for them". She started as a management trainee.

"We need to create a level-playing field," said Kochhar, who concluded that while life as a woman CEO is "not easy", senior women executives are not asking for empathy. "Rather", she noted: "We don't want special privileges but want to be elected on merit.”