Succeed Anyway

Google unveiled a new application whereby many critical health conditions can be detected in future by a simple retina scan. Serum Institute is introducing a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer at a very low and affordable price. India successfully launched its Chandrayaan 3 mission under the able leadership of Ritu Shrivastava.

And there is a gender equality index wherein India ranks 127th out of 147 countries! How come? As it is – this report says that for the world to achieve full gender parity it would take 131 years!

An ad for a national TV talk show doing the rounds of social media painted an even grimmer scenario. According to the reports quoted there – there is maximum pay disparity at the seniormost levels, the pipeline is broken in the middle and about a large percentage of the people surveyed prefer men over women and a strong majority are biased against women. While details are awaited and one really needs to look at the sample size, sample representation, industries surveyed, sectors surveyed and hierarchy and nature of roles considered to arrive at a conclusion- one thing is certain that things are not all that rosy and hunky dory. ?

??The current IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva is from Bulgaria and according to newspaper reports she says that she had to work twice as hard as men to reach her position. Bulgaria ranks 18th in the EU in this report.

Pay parity or rather pay disparity has been the hot topic for discussion in Bollywood. Priyanka Chopra has achieved pay parity in her latest thriller series Citadel. Women from all across applaud her success. And rightly so. These women are also saying that for them pay parity as of now is not happening.

So, what do these talented and beautiful and smart and savvy movies and television fraternity do? They start the dialogue on pay parity and get the dialogue rolling and at the same time invest their hard-earned money into many smart money-making ventures like – production houses (where they get to do their dream roles – no waiting for someone to grant them this wishes), clothes labels, perfume lines, makeup business, restaurants, angel funding, mutual fund investments, real estate investments, gold business et al. They work hard and they make their money work harder.

So, what is the lesson is this for us lesser mortals? The lesson is knowing your mutual funds really well, know your low-cost ETFs really well, know your REITs and gold bonds and bonds at bond trading platforms really well- inside out. Save a lot. As Warren Buffett says first save and then spend and not the other way around. According to a World Bank report, India’s gross domestic savings as a percentage of the GDP in 2022 stood at 28.96%. Which is excellent news! But wait – lets get more granular. According to a 2020 report, married Indians save 50% of their monthly earnings while single Indians do not save at all – The savings rate also differs across higher income groups and middle class. According to an RBI report, the rate of financial savings in India, increased to 52% in fiscal 2021 from 45% in 2016 while that of physical savings fell from 55% to 48%. This is also reflected in the fact that in India, mutual funds manage nearly Rs 44,82,314 crores (average Assets under Management – AAUM) and now mutual fund investments are coming from Tier 3 & Tier 4 cities. The bond market is India is also witnessing healthy retail appetite. So, save a lot and invest smartly. One ad which used to do the rounds of national television a few years back extolled the virtues of a good financial planner and I think there is logic in that. Not everybody is trained in finance and accounts. There are people who are doctors and lawyers and architects etc. Also not everybody has the time to study balance sheet and profit and loss account and ratios and what have you! So a trained and reliable financial expert can be very useful in managing and investing your portfolio. Manage and invest so well that by the time you are around your forties, your dividend and/or interest income is sizeable and provides security. Sensex has already crossed 66K. The next few decades belong to India and the stock markets should do really well. Your retirement nest should also be done and dusted with if your investments are smart. Never mind the pay disparity – we will save and invest so well that we thrive – while fighting for pay pay parity!

Falguni Nayar was a director with Kotak Mahindra Bank when she quit and founded Nykaa! Another very senior banker was a trained bio chemistry professional who left the bank at a senior role and founded her own Ayurvedic skincare company and later sold the same to a FMCG major! Empty nest? Mid life crisis? What is that? A friend in her fifties is celebrating her empty nest by opening a plush boutique for silver jewellery at the swankiest address in town – she did exhibitions from Jamshedpur to Singapore and reached this place by sheer grit and hard work. So, invest and save so well that you can have your dream second innings – while fighting for pay parity!

Another thing which works very well is – continuously upskill and educate yourselves – the education world is buzzing these days with blended courses (online plus campus visits). I highly recommend everyone to pursue this with vigor and zeal. Your skills are real time, you stay updated with the latest trends and the thrill of a bowl of hot Maggi and coffee at 3.30 at night at the on -campus cafe, with the soft pitter patter of rain and cool breeze is worth enjoying. Harvard has introduced AI (Artificial Intelligence) led instructors, IIMs have bio metric attendance so that you cannot give proxy. After years of lording it over subordinates, at the corporates, the corporate honcho gets locked out of the classroom because he reached a minute late and gets a glare from the Professor because his mobile rang (for the nth time) just when the Professor was saying that all mobiles should remain switched off. Investments in education is as important as investments for financial security and we will do both – while fighting for pay parity.

A third thing which works very well is having the right mentors. This space is again buzzing and one should be able to forge meaningful relationships. Leena Nair – the current worldwide CEO of Chanel has Indira Nooyi as one of her mentors and according to newspaper reports Indira Nooyi played a role in her transition to Chanel worldwide CEO from Unilever Leadership Executive and CHRO Unilever – so we will forge good relationships with mentors – while fighting for pay parity!

Speaking of Indira Nooyi – her autobiography reveals that she is truly a people person and had all her secretaries and neighbors and relatives supporting her while she raised two beautiful and talented daughters while serving 22 years at PepsiCo – half of which was as the CEO. She writes in her book that she would like to to see old people in old age homes and orphans together. She also writes that under her leadership, PepsiCo built several day care centers so that young mothers could work. Rishi Sunak was recently in the news announcing several day care centers to be opened in the UK so that both parents can work – while these are most welcome, what is also important that we realize and appreciate the Indian joint family system with its security and warmth and built in checks and balances for the youngsters – so will appreciate the Indian joint family system and fight for gender parity!

So, we will save and invest smartly, we will invest in our education, we will invest in relationships that nurture and support and fight pay disparity.

Who said it was going to be easy? As a fun ad tagline goes – Men will be men! But then you have men like K V Kamath – a whole generation of banking CEOs were nurtured under his tutelage – from Kalpana Morparia of ICICI who went to head JP Morgan Chase, from Shikha Sharma of ICICI who went to head Axis Bank, from Madhabi Puri Buch of ICICI who went to head SEBI and many more. May we have many many more K V Kamaths. And may we have many many more of Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik who fought for their younger sisters! They did not look the other way!

We will support and cheer our sisters – we would love to see Indira Nooyi and Kamala Harris get the top job! We would love to see Gita Gopinath head IMF and the ECB! We would love to see Arundhati Bhattacharya at the helm of RBI and/or BRICS Bank!

Who said it was going to be easy? An eagle flies against the wind and soars high! Fish swim against the tide- dead fish get swept with the tide! Let us all succeed! Succeed anyways!

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