BT MPW: Many areas where women score better than men, says Uday Kotak

There are many stereotypes regarding certain jobs that a woman can't do at a bank but there are a number of areas where women actually score much better than men, Kotak Mahindra Bank MD & CEO Uday Kotak said. 

"There are a number of areas where women actually score better. One is commitment to repay a loan. That is clearly superior. Second is stickiness in the job. The attrition ratio of women is much lower than men, at least at Kotak. And it's something which we find quite fascinating," Kotak said while speaking at the 18th annual edition of Business Today's Most Powerful Women event in Mumbai on Saturday. 

According to the banking veteran, companies should find innovative ways to encourage women participation in the workforce. Flexibility in terms of work hours and work days so that they can balance home and work will "dramatically increase the participation of women in the workforce", he said. 

Incidentally, Kotak Bank, which has a total employee strength of over 80,000, has 26 per cent women employees and the private sector lender intends to take the share to one-third in the next three years. 

He, however, added that there is enough room to improve the share in the overall banking industry as one moves away from the beliefs or stereotypes that there are certain jobs in the banking industry that a woman cannot do. 

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"One of the very important aspects which a bank has to do is to collect the money it has lent. The stereotype is that for a collections job, it has to be a male. We have now found that women not only are effective in the job, in fact, they are better and we have also tried it in rural and semi urban India. It is turning out to be very effective," said Kotak. 

Kotak, who was assigned the task of cleaning IL&FS in 2018, further said that while historically there has been a bias against women in the financial sector, it is no more the case. 

When asked if a woman could succeed him at the bank, his tenure at the helm will end in 2024, he said that "it is going to be a process and the best person will get it". 

Interestingly, while highlighting the fact that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) has changed the culture of doing business in India for good, he said, "I've rarely seen a major IBC case with a woman go into bankruptcy". 

Watch: Siddharth Zarabi in an exclusive conversation with Uday Kotak