businesspeople-from-india

"Markets are like physics."

"It's going to be interesting [to see] if there's a land grab on services that they want to be a part of."

"You're going to see more M&A activity within the VFX and animation community; I think you're going to see companies bulk up."

"I'm still looking at potential acquisition targets around the globe."

"I am a people person. So whenever I engage, whether it’s a client or my own team, for me it’s not just about the work or task at hand. It is about knowing the person and what drives him"

"I have pursued my career as an independent professional with utmost honesty, dignity and integrity. I continue to have faith and belief in my conduct as a professional and I am certain that truth will ultimately prevail"

"Aarti, there is no limit to what a determined mind can achieve, but in achieving your goal, don't compromise on the values of fair play and honesty"

"For the specific life stage needs, at least what the ICICI has done is that we have created a whole programme where women can actually work from home over a longer period and not lose out on their career progression. We have also started this thing where if women who have children up to 3 years of age, travel overnight for work, we pay for the accompanying child and the accompanying caretaker. I think these are the things that need to be done to really meet that specific life stage need"

"If people ask me what special policies we have to encourage women, we actually don't have any special policies for women. The only special thing we do is to create that environment where women feel confident that it is on the basis of their merit that they will rise"

"Therefore ensuring education for all women is very important. The third one is that we have to empower them economically, by providing them the right skills, by providing them access to jobs, by providing them access to markets - basically all opportunities and requisites to enable them to participate in the economic growth"

"I believe in fate but I also believe that hard work and diligence plays a very important role in our lives. In a larger sense, we all write our own destiny. Take destiny in your own hands, dream of what you want to achieve, and write it in your own way. As you go ahead in life, I want you to climb the path to success one step at a time. Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete"

"The disinvestment boom is not on her front burner. I have a clear focus on the bottom line"

"When I get whatever I've set my heart on - whether it is a mandate we must win or a person I wish to hire"

"Women are very strong but while a lot of women join the organisation, it’s also equally important for them not to give up and continue through that biggest life stage point where they start their families"

"I am utterly disappointed, hurt and shocked by the decision. I have not been given a copy of the report. I reiterate that none of the credit decisions at the bank are unilateral. ICICI is an institution with established robust processes and systems which involve committee based collective decision making with several professionals of high calibre participating in the decision making"

"That is exactly what power means to me - getting things done"

"Don't cut corners or compromise to achieve your dreams. Remember to be sensitive to the feelings of people around you. And remember, if you don't allow stress to overtake you, it will never become an issue in your life"

"Remember that good times and bad times will be part of your life equally, and you have to learn to handle both with equanimity. Make the most of life's opportunities and learn from every opportunity, and challenge that life brings along"

"India still fares much better than many countries in the world. It's a wide spectrum - there isn't another country where you have 100 million families impacted by the self-help groups of which 85% are women"

"I think in order to empower our women we need 3Es. Encourage them, educate them and empower them economically. What I mean by this is first of all, in society, we have to inspire all our girls and women to aspire to do well. Aspire to dream big and aspire to back it up with hard work. Secondly, we must ensure education for all women because it is normally believed when you educate a man, you educate a person but when you educate a woman, you educate the entire generation"

"Win. Win. Win. I have a huge passion to win. I feel we tend to make excuses because we haven’t set our mind to win. Whatever it is that you do in life, you need to be in the top three"

"I have served at ICICI for the last 34 years with all my dedication and hard work. I have never shied away from taking tough decisions whenever required to be taken in the best interest of the organisation. This decision from the bank has caused me immense hurt and pain"

"I think organisations are doing a lot. First of all, what most organisations now in India are doing is encouraging more and more women to join the organisation. Secondly, they are creating a very merit-oriented environment which means that people are confident. Women are confident that if they put in the hard work and they are capable enough, they will get their rightful move in the organisation"

"As you go forward, you will sometimes have to take difficult decisions, decisions that others might scorn at. But you must have the courage to stand up for what you believe in. Make sure you have that conviction to do what you know is right, and once you have it, don't let skeptics distract you from your path"

"There is no glass ceiling. It is a myth. If it exists, it is in your head. I have worked in the IT industry for the last 27 years, and I know it doesn’t exist. Our growth rates are so high, our industry is so hungry for talent, why would there be any discrimination? Get over this.”“Wipe out any guilt today. Even if you have an iota of it, you will hesitate"

"I don't have these night-and-day moments"

"I don't have these night-and-day moments, she says. My first decade was about appreciation for an industry and a client. The second decade was about bringing value, about building organizational capability. The third decade is about leadership in different cultures and environments"

"We have taken on 23,000 people, in addition to the 62,000 that we had. This has taken our combined strength to 85,000"

"Now, there is no looking back, because I have realised that I can be challenged and be very happy in any job"

"My daughter may be the greatest looking thing on Earth, but you can’t spend 18 hours a day looking at her. It’s also social conditioning that makes you feel that the baby needs you. I figured out that the baby doesn’t even need you. They just need someone to wash them and take care of them"

"I don’t like this job at hand right now, let me go somewhere else I am not sure this is always the right way to look at things. You have to take a much broader view of your career. I am not saying that people should not change jobs, you can and you should. But take a much broader view of your career, and focus on the big picture"

"In the last few years, I have taken the IBM story to many industries beyond telecom - banking, financial services and insurance, industrial and retail segments"

"Before I came here, I thought of myself as a telecom person - I spent 20 years in that industry. For the first time, I have started working with companies in manufacturing and industries I have not worked with before"

"It has defined my IBM career. It helped me lay a foundation - you respect the industry of your client and sometimes, the client is your best teacher"

"There are women on the board of Engineers India and Oil India and as I said earlier, as long as the women in the industry give their best as professionals, they will get due recognition"

"Apart from a job in a department store, IBM is my only job. It was the only place where I wrote a professional resume and was interviewed"

"IBM wanted somebody with an appreciation for the market, for what it needed from a local perspective. I brought my experience with IBM, in global and local roles. Plus, they had me here for the last four years learning the market and running parts of the business"

"I am leading the integration work in India"

"I don’t care about the environment, but I will make it work"

"We have to plug the gap and bring them back without treating it as lost time"

"India is the technology talent hub of the world. It also helps global companies achieve diversity goals as the country produces the highest STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) talent in the world when it comes to females. Unfortunately, if you look at the data, it’s declining, but it’s still the largest number in the world"

"There will be some jobs that will go through a certain evolution, in the world of generative AI. However, there will be new jobs that will be created. If some companies are reducing headcount, it’s perhaps for a certain segment of jobs, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that opportunities will reduce. I think it will grow"

"Within the top 200 leaders of our company—out of 120,000 employees—we don’t have a single woman leader"

"The steppingstone for building a great leader is getting a great education"

"So we asked ourselves, if we want a female CEO in a decade, what steps do we need to take to get there"

"These women get married, have a family—it’s why they leave"

"Women work in refineries, marketing offices, and on rigs"

"I have certainly not felt it. But we cannot declare victory and women should continue to remain focused"

"HPCL's refinery is hardly 80 km from the border at Bhatinda, Punjab, and another one is coming up in Barmer, but the decision would have to be taken at the diplomatic level"

"HCL does a lot more on semiconductor design and works with organisations from all over the world. I was in Taiwan last year and I met with leaders of companies. Yes, it’s got the might but one of the leaders rightly pointed out that it took them 40 years to get there. So much of it had to do with the way skills evolved. We (India) have catching up to do, but technology will shrink that time of catching up. Investment in R&D and skills can’t be spearheaded by industries alone"