PRIDE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT

THE FELICITATION CEREMONY OF THE 18TH BUSINESS TODAY MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN BUSINESS AWARDS WAS A BALANCED MIX OF WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED AND WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE

- ALOKESH BHATTACHARYYA

ON THE EVENING of March 12, the lawns of the Taj Lands End hotel in Mumbai, set beside the majestic Arabian Sea, became as spectacular as the sea itself, as it was graced by a bevy of powerful, influential women with insights and knowledge as deep as the ocean they sat next to.

The occasion: the felicitation ceremony of Business Today’s The Most Powerful Women in Business awards. It was an evening to celebrate, but it was also an evening to introspect, to debate, to find deeper meaning, to the ever-evolving cause of gender diversity and finding more and more women champions in corporate India.

Business Today’s Editor Sourav Majumdar initiated proceedings with his welcome address. Pointing out how India now has a woman as finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) as also the chief of the Securities and Exchange Board of India or Sebi (Madhabi Puri Buch), Majumdar extolled the virtues of the winners of this year’s awards. He also said that we need to do much more, as the number of women chairpersons and even CEOs is still very low. “And that’s why the MPW list, which celebrates the power of women achievers, is even more important,” said Majumdar.