Arundhati Bhattacharya is a retired Indian banker and the first female executive at India’s public sector giant State Bank of India. She served as chairman and managing director of the country’s largest commercial bank for four years until October 2017. Ms. Bhattacharya also achieved the feat of becoming the first female leader of a Fortune 500 company in India and the only female banker in the world. The veteran banker is also the youngest managing director and chief financial officer of SBI.
Wiki/Biography
Arundhati Bhattacharya was born in Kolkata on Sunday, March 18, 1956 (age 65 years 2021) under the zodiac sign of Pisces. She grew up in Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) and Bokaro (Jharkhand), completed her schooling at St. Xavier’s School, Bokaro, and went to Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata to complete her graduation in English Literature . From 1972 to 1974, Arundhati studied for a Master’s degree in English Literature at Jadavpur University, Calcutta.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′3″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Arundhati was born into a Bengali family.
Parents and siblings
Her father Prodyut Kumar Mukherjee worked as an electrical engineer at Bhilai Steel Plant, while Arundhati’s mother Kalyani Mukherjee, who died at the age of 90, was a homeopathic consultant. She has a sister Aditi Basu and a brother.
husband and children
Arundhati married Pritimoy Bhattacharya in 1983. Her husband is a former professor at IIT Kharagpur and later a director at Techno India Group.
Arundhati Bhattacharya husband and daughter
The couple has a daughter named Sukrita Bhattacharya.
Arundhati Bhattacharya and daughter Sukrita
Profession
milestone
- Since April 2020: Chairman and CEO, Salesforce India
- Since December 2018: Chairman of SWIFT India
- From December 2018: Board of Directors of Reliance Industries Limited
- December 2018 – April 2020: Wipro Limited Board of Directors
- December 2018 – April 2020: Piramal Group Board of Directors
- October 2018 – April 2020: Additional Director (Independent) of CRISIL Ltd.
- 2013-2017: Chairman and Managing Director, SBI
- 2009: In-charge of Karnataka SBI
- 2007: Served as General Manager of SBI Mumbai Branch and promoted to Chief General Manager
- 2000: Deputy General Manager, Foreign Affairs, SBI Kolkata Branch
- 1996-2000: Vice President, Branch Coordinator, SBI New York Office
- 1983-1992: Worked at SBI Kharagpur Branch and later served as Assistant General Manager
- 1977: Joined SBI as a trainee officer
SBI’s early experience
Arundhati is a 21-year-old fresher studying at SBI Training School in Hyderabad. She began her four-decade journey with India’s largest public sector bank in September 1977, the auspicious Panchami day of Durga Puja. She joined the 214-year-old mammoth agency SBI as a trainee officer in Alipore, Kolkata. In an interview, Arundhati recalled her first day at SBI and said:
It was my first day on the job, starting my job training, and I was tasked with writing a check and entering the details. The branch was surrounded by hordes of people…soon they had to close the doors to control the crowd and then they started pushing their way in. I remember every detail of the day, and my sore hands as I wrote the check in a daze, making sure there were no mistakes. I remember the crowds of people rushing to withdraw money before the bank closed. This is the day of baptism by fire. “
The banker was soon transferred to the junior management level of SBI’s main branch in Kolkata and from there to the local headquarters. Nearly six years after joining the bank, Bhattacharya served at its Kharagpur branch for nine years. During his tenure at Kharagpur, the banker was promoted three times and was promoted to Assistant General Manager when he finally left the branch. While at the bank, Arundhati also served as Chief Executive Officer, Capital Markets, State Bank of India and as Chief General Manager responsible for several new projects. In 1996, she moved to the United States to manage external audit and agency relations at SBI’s New York branch, where she remained until 2000. Over the next decade, the banker held various positions at SBI’s Mumbai branch and was promoted to Deputy Managing Director SBI in 2011.
As Chairman of SBI
On October 1, 2013, Ms. Bhattacharya succeeded Pratip Chaudhuri and made history by becoming the first female Chairman and Managing Director of SBI after serving as Deputy Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of SBI for two years. The appointment of the First Lady as Chairman reportedly hit the news as she was personally recommended by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among all the SBI MDs who were in the running for the top post. Apparently, this situation arose due to a last-minute change in the rulebook by the Indian Finance Ministry. Arundhati led the mammoth institution at a time when SBI and other public sector banks were facing the challenge of piling up bad loans and SBI’s asset quality was deteriorating. During her crucial four years as Bank Governor, Ms. Bhattacharya played an important role in making the Bank a women-friendly workplace. She introduced policies such as two years of maternity or aged care leave for female staff, free cervical cancer vaccinations and women working from home.
The veteran banker ended a 40-year tenure at India’s largest public sector bank and retired as chairman in October 2017, a year after her official three-year tenure. Arundhati’s tenure was extended to ensure smooth merger of SBI’s five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank in 2016. The decision was taken jointly by the Government of India and the Bureau of Bank Boards (BBB). In her final days at the bank, Arundhati hinted at her post-retirement plans. She said in an interview,
I don’t think I’m going to stay in banking, but obviously, I’m not going to just hang up my boots. In this day and age, 60 is still too early. Of course, I’m over 60 years old, but that doesn’t matter. There is a lot to do and if you have the energy and inclination to do it, then I think you can. So I will definitely be actively involved, but probably not directly in banking. “
after retirement
A year after her retirement on October 17, 2018, Ms. Bhattacharya served as an independent director on the Board of Reliance Industries for a five-year term. In the same month, she also accepted to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of CRISIL Ltd. as an Additional Director (Independent) of the company. While still at CRISIL, Arundhati accepted the role of Chairman and CEO of SWIFT India in December 2018. On April 16, 2020, the banker resigned from the board of CRISIL Ltd. to take up the post of Chairman and CEO of Salesforce India – a global giant in the CRM space.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 2014, Arundhati was named the 24th most powerful woman in the Asia-Pacific region by Fortune magazine. From 2014 to 2017, she ranked first on Fortune’s list of the most powerful women in Indian business for three consecutive years.
- The banker was named the 30th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2015. In the same year, she was also named the Outstanding Women Business Leader of the Year at the 10th Indian Business Leadership Awards.
- The next year, she moved up five spots and was named the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In 2016, Ms. Bhattacharya was also selected as one of the “FP Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine. In the same year, the then Governor of Maharashtra also awarded her the Women of the Year Award for her contribution in banking and financial services.
- Ms. Bhattacharya was ranked 19th in India Today magazine’s 2017 list of the 50 most powerful people in India.
- In 2018, Arundhati was named ‘Business Leader of the Year’ at the Asia Awards. She was also awarded the 9th VC Padmanabhan Memorial Award for Excellence and her interview titled “Arundhati Bhattacharya: The Making of the First Female Chairman of State Bank of India” was published in Harvard Business Review Ascend.
Arundhati Bhattacharya won the award in 2018
- She is also one of the nominees representing India for the posts of Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the World Bank.
Favorites
- Book: 14: Stories that inspired Satyajit Ray, by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
salary
Arundhati Bhattacharya won around Rs. In her last year as SBI chairperson, she earned Rs 28.96 million in the financial year 2016-2017.
Facts/Trivia
- Arundhati enjoys reading in her spare time and is also a yoga enthusiast.
- Ms. Bhattacharya revealed in an interview that she had always wanted to pursue a PhD and study Sanskrit. Furthermore, according to some reports, the banker aspired to choose journalism as a career while studying for a master’s degree in English literature. According to reports, she joined SBI after passing the examination conducted by the bank for various positions.
- Arundhati lived in Kolkata and Mumbai and was in a long-distance marriage with her husband who lived mainly in Kharagpur or Kolkata until her retirement from SBI. She said in an interview,
I came to the commerce branch in Kolkata in 1993, when my husband was still at IIT Kharagpur. Before I gave birth to my daughter, Sukrita, in April 1995, I would commute to see him on the weekends. Then he would go a long way. When I was posted to Mumbai in 2008, it was my first time here. My husband stayed in Calcutta. He’s going to stay with us for two weeks. “
- At SBI, Arundhati was responsible for retail operations, investment banking, human resources, finance and foreign exchange. According to SBI, she led the bank’s digital transformation and was responsible for launching several of the bank’s initiatives such as SBI Custody Services, SBI General Insurance, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, SBI Pension Fund Pte Ltd. Ltd. and SBI SG Global Securities Services. She also played an important role in the bank’s establishment of IT platforms such as mobile banking and e-commerce.
- Under her leadership, SBI’s share price rose 57% after it divested its stake in SBI Life Insurance.
- Ms. Bhattacharya said she almost quit her job at the SBI in 2006 after being posted in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She said in an interview,
I seriously thought about giving up. I’m worried that the kind of comprehensive school my daughter wants isn’t available in the city. My husband came back from the US and was doing consulting work in Kolkata. He didn’t want to leave and start from scratch.
- She also became the first chairperson in the history of SBI to be appointed for a fixed term of three years beyond her retirement age of 60 years.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education