What Glass Ceiling?

DEENA Mehta, the first woman to make it to the governing board of the country's premier stock exchange, is a woman who is self-avowedly "not in a hurry". She wants to be active in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for the next 10-15 years before she even aspires to becoming president. For now, she is content being one of the president's men. Rather, the only woman among the men! "You can't guarantee Lakshmi's continued presence in the house, but you can be assured of Saraswati," used to be husband Asit Mehta's favourite line. Deena grabbed it, invested in the stock market and established her name in the BSE record-books.

As with the searing and sudden spotlight, it's not an honour she handles with ease. "I want this to be seen as a professional achievement, without unnecessary focus on the gender," she says. In fact, she seems downright reluctant to dwell on her achievements: "My trading philosophy is to be fair in all dealing and never cut any corners. I buy when there are no buyers and sell when there are no sellers. All this is the culmination of single-minded hard work, not something that happened overnight."

The 35-year-old stumbled into the world of stocks purely by accident over a decade ago. At her wit's—and patience's—end with a nine-to-five routine at Crompton Greaves, she decided to delve into the unknown. "It was a madhouse," she remembers. "Especially the trading ring, but somehow I managed. Within no time, I had educated myself with the sign language used in the ring."

A ringmaster of sorts, Deena soon set herself up for a couple of firsts and even equalled things out in the largely male-dominated brokering bastion. "I never had a problem of being treated as less important than the others. Ultimately when the novelty of being a woman broker wears off, people gauge you by your attitude not by your birth," she says.

In the 122 years of the BSE's existence, this was the first time a woman had contested an election, and actually won it. In 1986, Deena was the first woman to conduct trading in the ring, and she tops off the sweet taste of victory with the fact that she was also the highest female taxpayer in the country this year. The Rs 55 lakh poured into the income tax coffers was a far cry from the Crompton Greaves days in 1984 when the finance executive carried home a relatively paltry packet of Rs 10,000. "I knew that I would win the elections but not by this margin," she exclaims. She trounced the others by hogging 382 out of the 413 votes cast, ringing hollow even M.G. Damani's reelection to the post of BSE president. He secured 315 votes! Describing Deena's trailblazing climb to the top, Damani says: "The apprehension was that this being a male-dominated profession, she would not be able to make it. With Deena winning the maximum number of votes compared to the four other candidates, the BSE has proved that it doesn't believe in these petty things."

 It is a view shared by her contemporaries—other women stockbrokers like Jagruti Parekh and Usha Sundaram. "A low-profile person who knows what she wants and has the confide-nce to achieve it. She is an inspiration to other women stockbrokers," says Parekh. While Sundaram offers: "Very dynamic and knowledgeable. Terms which qualify the fact that gender has nothing to do with it." Deena's own rundown on herself reads thus: "Very religious, very sincere, very honest, very much the girl next door."

The beginnings in Mumbai—graduation from Sydenham College, a masters in management studies from the suburban NM College, chartered accountancy followed by an apprenticeship at a law firm, followed by a masters in business administration—were pretty much run-of-the-mill. It was only when, goaded by a supportive spouse, she joined the fracas in the trading ring and paid Rs 5.5 lakh for a card that costs Rs 1.25 crore today, that her counterparts acknowledged that she had what it takes to reach the post. Soon Deena found herself on the Settlement Committee, the Defaulters Committee, the Computers Committee and the All India Stock Broker's Committee established by the Stock Holding Corporation of India. On the personal front, her two sons "are happy with the achievement".

On the professional front, she "would like to get something done about the bye-laws, setting up of depositories and BOLT expansion." And amidst all the congratulations, she adds: "I owe it all to my husband. I may be the administrator, but he is the visionary." When he is not prodding Deena on, Asit continues to be in the debt market. But his wife will have a tough time paying off this one.