Focus on increasing women participation in operations to 50% from current 22%
Mumbai : Women are the ‘sutradhar’ that keeps the one lakh-strong Vedanta family together, Chairman Anil Agarwal said while addressing a virtual town hall meeting with employees and their families to celebrate International Women‘s Day.
“If a woman is convinced and she puts her mind into a task, she can deliver 110% results,” the Vedanta chairman said, while urging women to believe in themselves.
‘Choose an idea and put your heart and mind into it. Do something only when you are convinced about it, not because you have to do it or you have been asked to do it,” he said.
Mr Agarwal encouraged women to pick up an activity outside their daily lives, be it a full-time or a part-time engagement and contribute to society. “There is nothing a woman cannot do. You only have to develop a mindset of being able to achieve it,” he added. There are nearly two crore women in India who can contribute to the society in a significant way, provided they get the right opportunity, he pointed out.
Mr Agarwal was joined by Priya Agarwal Hebbar, a director on the company’s board, who felt the biggest challenge women In India face is in developing their mindset. She also felt women need to embody the values they set to inculcate in their children. She also sought Mr Agarwal’s views on how women can achieve and maintain a fine balance between tradition and their newer, more demanding professional roles.
Vedanta is ranked among the top global companies where women feel comfortable to work and the company takes a lot of pride in it, Mr Agarwal said adding that the company will increase women representation in operational roles to 50 per cent from 22 per cent currently.
Appreciating women professionals’contribution at Vedanta’s diversified business units, he also thanked the women across the Vedanta family who have always stood by their husbands and supported them allowing the latter to concentrate fully on work.
His hour- long interaction drew a lot of questions. Responding to a query from the audience, he also encouraged wives of Vedanta employees to channelise their energy and entrepreneurial spirit to contribute to Vedanta in some meaningful way – be it through technology enablementor services.