Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO Padmaja Chunduru reveals two crises in his life and his success mantra
CHENNAI: As a young bank officer, Padmaja Chunduru’s first big challenge was how to care for a two month old baby when she was transferred to a village branch in the SBI network. Almost four decades later, as Managing Director and CEO of Indian Bank, she faced a similar challenge when the Covid-19 pandemic cost her organization more than 100 employees. For Chunduru, at the heart of both challenges lay a difficult choice.
“I cried when I was transferred to a rural branch with a tiny baby,†she said, speaking about leadership at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s new Coffee-Connect conference. Madras industry. “My husband was in a nearby town and I was alone. ”
Several years later, when she was once again alone in an international assignment in Los Angeles, she had to negotiate tough choices. “My husband was in India, I was in the United States with my two children, and I had to learn new things like driving and cooking,†she recalls. “But despite all of these challenges, one thing hasn’t changed – I still love my job.”
For a banker who by her own admission was inspired by legendary SBI boss Arundhati Bhattacharya, that goal has been her mantra. “I never noticed a glass ceiling at either SBI or Indian Bank,†she says. “I was too busy doing my own thing. When an opportunity presented itself, I was willing to risk it. And that’s the advice she gives to career women.
“You can’t have it all – so adjust yourself. I hear women talk about work-life balance all the time. Don’t men have the same concerns? Women say that when we come home we are to be wife, mother, daughter-in-law. But the man too. You have to find a balance – don’t let work encroach on your home, don’t let home encroach on your work, â€she says.
Indian Bank, which has 11,000 female employees and 23% of lower management, has 5 general managers out of 40 at the top. “I want women in visible and critical positions,†says Chunduru. “And I want women to be entrepreneurial.”
To this end, she launched Spring Board where the bank provides working capital to women entrepreneurs referred by the IIT-Madras and IIT-Bombay incubation centers among other leading institutions. It has also launched regional language training programs covering technology, e-commerce, finance and basic business knowledge – a project that started in Tamil Nadu and has now been expanded.
Despite these efforts, it is ultimately up to women not to take the easy way out and to feel sorry for themselves. “You can’t please everyone. Yes, your children, your home, your husband, your family are important, but you are the most important, â€she said. “So choose and balance well.”
“I cried when I was transferred to a rural branch with a tiny baby,†she said, speaking about leadership at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s new Coffee-Connect conference. Madras industry. “My husband was in a nearby town and I was alone. ”
Several years later, when she was once again alone in an international assignment in Los Angeles, she had to negotiate tough choices. “My husband was in India, I was in the United States with my two children, and I had to learn new things like driving and cooking,†she recalls. “But despite all of these challenges, one thing hasn’t changed – I still love my job.”
For a banker who by her own admission was inspired by legendary SBI boss Arundhati Bhattacharya, that goal has been her mantra. “I never noticed a glass ceiling at either SBI or Indian Bank,†she says. “I was too busy doing my own thing. When an opportunity presented itself, I was willing to risk it. And that’s the advice she gives to career women.
“You can’t have it all – so adjust yourself. I hear women talk about work-life balance all the time. Don’t men have the same concerns? Women say that when we come home we are to be wife, mother, daughter-in-law. But the man too. You have to find a balance – don’t let work encroach on your home, don’t let home encroach on your work, â€she says.
Indian Bank, which has 11,000 female employees and 23% of lower management, has 5 general managers out of 40 at the top. “I want women in visible and critical positions,†says Chunduru. “And I want women to be entrepreneurial.”
To this end, she launched Spring Board where the bank provides working capital to women entrepreneurs referred by the IIT-Madras and IIT-Bombay incubation centers among other leading institutions. It has also launched regional language training programs covering technology, e-commerce, finance and basic business knowledge – a project that started in Tamil Nadu and has now been expanded.
Despite these efforts, it is ultimately up to women not to take the easy way out and to feel sorry for themselves. “You can’t please everyone. Yes, your children, your home, your husband, your family are important, but you are the most important, â€she said. “So choose and balance well.”
