AN INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR IS NOT AN INVESTIGATOR

Naina Lal Kidwai, Senior Adviser to Rothschild & Co India who also sits on the board of many companies, talks about being an independent director, handling work pressure, and about women in the BFSI space

- UDAYAN MUKHERJEE

Naina Lal Kidwai, former country head of HSBC India, has her hands full. Not only is the former Ficci president a Senior Adviser to Rothschild & Co India, who sits on the board of a clutch of companies, she also finds time for not-for-profit work in water sanitation, environment and green financing. Kidwai, a chartered accountant by training, was the first Indian woman to do an MBA from Harvard, and one of the first top women executives in the banking space in India. In an interview with Business Today’s Global Business Editor Udayan Mukherjee, Kidwai talks about her not-for-profit work, the role of independent directors, and breaking the glass ceiling. 

Q: Naina, I remember that time back in 2015 when you put in your papers at HSBC, and everybody said, isn’t she quitting too early? You were not even 60 at that point. Do you ever feel that you could have hung on a little longer?

A: So, Udayan, the retirement age was indeed 58. They were extending it by a couple of years but I didn’t want to be seen as the one who was hanging on for my benefit, because there were others who were impacted. And they tried to keep me on in advisory roles, etc., but I was quite clear. I wanted to break with banking and move on to do other things, a decision I’ve never regretted because it’s given me the ability to not be a slave to others. You know, when you work in an organisation, you work for their agendas. Some of them can be very uncomfortable. Because there are times when you have to ask people to leave, there are things you have to do that you don’t enjoy. What I can do now is to pick and choose what I like—and I have by no means retired from work; I’ve only retired from HSBC—and my entire portfolio today gives me a very, very full day made up of everything that I enjoy.