Miles To Go

Gender diversity is missing in large areas of the financial servicesindustry. There is no easy way out.

- Anand Adhikari

In an ideal world, the proverbial glass ceiling no longer hinders the women at work, but the reality remains otherwise. “Women are still hugely under-represented in the mutual fund industry,” said HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh while speaking at the 2018 summit of the Association of Mutual Fund of India. “They tend to be better savers, and it is a pool that asset management companies (AMCs) need to tap further. A more inclusive and participative style will reap benefits for all in the future.”

Parekh seems to have hit the nail on the head. When it comes to financial services, there are few women in board positions or corner offices barring a couple of key areas such as banking and investment banking. Sitting in the audience was Radhika Gupta, Chief Executive of Edelweiss AMC, who could not agree more. The lone CEO in India’s 25-lakh crore mutual fund industry, Gupta, too, rues the current scenario. “The diversity conversation has not come to us (AMCs) yet,” she says.

It is not entirely bleak out there as banks have witnessed a higher ratio of women workers and many of them have made it to the top. But the needle is moving slowly in areas such as AMC, private equity, securities, insurance and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). Besides Gupta, other noted leaders include Vaishali Kasture, Managing Director and Country Head, Experian India – a credit information firm; Shilpa Kumar, Head, ICICI Securities; and Rajashree Nambiar, CEO, Fullerton India – an NBFC. These women at the top would probably encourage younger professionals to make a career in new and upcoming segments of financial services, but it will not be a cakewalk. “It is a journey,” says a woman working at a public sector bank (PSB). “These new segments have come up only in the past two decades. You will gradually see women in other financial services as well.”