How Arundhati Fired Up Salesforce In India

In five years, the former SBI chair morphed into an ace software salesperson

- T. Surendar

When Arundhati Bhattacharya took charge of the India operations of Salesforce, one of the world's largest customer relationship management companies, in April 2020, she struggled to understand the value she could add.

In fact, many people within the company had the same question, and doubt. It's not the kind of beginning one would expect from someone of Bhattacharya's stature. Before stepping into the tech world, she had carved out a formidable legacy in Indian banking. As the first woman chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, she steered the state-owned institution through historic consolidations—including the largest domestic bank merger—and earned a reputation as one of India's most powerful corporate leaders.

Bhattacharya was a career banker with 40 years in the industry—she joined SBI in 1977. The unusual turn in her professional trajectory, three years after her retirement from SBI, therefore, raised eyebrows.

"Traditionally, an SBI chairman never takes up executive roles post-retirement, especially not in private companies," notes a former SBI managing director who worked directly under her. "It's seen as beneath the statesman-like status that comes with the position. Bhattacharya's decision was unthinkable in the normal course," the executive, who didn't want to be identified, adds.

Initially, being the chief executive officer (CEO) of an enterprise software firm was quite hard, Bhattacharya admits.