The World Is Her Oyster

Anshula Kant is on a tough mission to eradicate poverty and increase income levels globally. Kant is the first woman Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer reporting to the President of the World Bank Group. She is responsible for financial reporting, risk management, and mobilization of IDA and multiple financial resources, among other key management duties. The World Bank is a preeminent global institution that aids developing countries in achieving their financial goals, and with a proven track record of more than 35 years in service, she earned her position on October 7, 2019 for the much-coveted post. She earned her bachelor’s degree with honours in economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women and a master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and ever since has applied her knowledge in the banking industry.

A confident banker who has been successfully handling a diverse array of retail and corporate banking, mortgage finance, local currency and foreign exchange instruments, and overcoming leadership challenges covering finance, risk, operations, treasury, funding, regulatory compliance, and general management is using her collective knowledge and skills to execute a large-scale operation across 130 of the World Bank’s office locations, with a mandate to help 189 countries.

As the Managing Director and member of the Board of the State Bank of India (SBI), she was recognised as one of the most competent finance professionals in the world. She has managed $38 billion in revenues and total assets of $500 billion. She was directly responsible for the SBI’s risk, compliance, stressed asset portfolio management, and long-term sustainability. Anshula Kant spearheaded the creation of investment opportunities while empowering risk management throughout the bank.

The expertise of Kant was visible recently at one of the G20 Finance Track meetings during discussions on the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) going for a lower credit rating. The bank commands the highest rating currently, which allows it to raise funds at lower interest rates and may restrict its flow of funds. Defending the MDB’s rating, Kant said, “We are among the world’s biggest non-sovereign issuers. Size and scale are important.” She explained that any rating downgrade would mean an increase in borrowing costs for it.

Empowering women in banking service was another important milestone achieved. During her tenure at SBI in 2017, when 46,000 women employees comprised 22 percent of the bank’s labour force, the workplace infrastructure, from chairs to room temperature to basic amenities, was not conducive to women as it had been over the years customized to fit men’s preferences. Kant brought in several changes to the employee policies, such as leave eligibility and other constraints, to support women in continuing their careers. In January 2014, SBI granted two years of sabbatical leave from work for female employees to meet their personal needs. Under her leadership, in May 2017, SBI also permitted the ‘work from home’ option for most of its employees, except for jobs such as customer handling that required face-to-face interaction. Remote working was further extended for more than a year in the case of female employees. Taking into account the effect of the husband’s job posting on a woman’s career, the bank also came up with the scheme to provide transfers to married women employees to their preferred location. Her mantra for women is “quitting is not an option.” Anshula Kant inspires women to ‘not give up’ in their leadership journey.