People thought Salesforce was a mistake: Arundhati Bhattacharya

The year was 2019. It was almost two years since Arundhati Bhattacharya had left her post as the chairperson of India's largest public sector bank. But Arundhati didn’t sit still. She continued to serve in non-executive posts at a few companies.

And that’s when a new opportunity came knocking: Salesforce. This global behemoth needed someone to run its India division. They needed someone who understood the country, the businesses, and its people. They picked Arundhati.

She wasn’t very sure. “A lot of people told me I am making a mistake, and that I was unnecessarily degrading my level. There I was (at SBI) managing an organisation of 270,000 people, while in Salesforce there were around 2,500 people in India,” says Arundhati Bhattacharya.

Despite her apprehensions, she took on the role. “It took me six months to accept the challenge,” she explains. And the rest is history.

Today, Salesforce has over 10,000 employees in India and a topline of Rs 6,000 crore. Additionally, Salesforce India registered a 50% year-on-year growth in revenue in FY23 and is actively hiring talent across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram, and Jaipur.

The CRM company has also released its maiden brand campaign in India.

All of this was new to her. Just for context, Salesforce is the polar opposite of SBI. The public sector bank is a legacy institution in India with a 217-year history. All processes, procedures, and responsibilities at SBI are well-defined and governed by legislation. Salesforce, on the other hand, entered India in 2011 and didn’t have an India CEO till Arundhati took it on.

“SBI is an institution that has a platform laid out. After SBI, while I had good non-executive roles, I wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing. I wanted something challenging. I also wanted to see whether I could still deliver if I didn’t have the platform,” Arundhati adds. So, the reason she took on the job was the challenges and opportunities to create and build it offered.

Going off the beaten track

Hard work is the key requisite for success. But Arundhati believes in passion rather than a compulsion to work. “I worked hard not because I was forced to but because I wanted to. I enjoy what I do and I refuse to get pulled down by unpleasant situations,” she adds.

It is something she has practised since she was a child. Arundhati and her two siblings lived a life of limited means. There was one bicycle in the house, which meant that whoever got ready first took the cycle to school while the others either walked or took the bus.

A young Arundhati spent her childhood and adolescence in Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) and Bokaro (Jharkhand). During this time, she drew inspiration from her parents, especially her mother, Kalyani Mukherjee, who was a homoeopathic practitioner in Bokaro.

Arundhati recalls how her mother took up medicine after witnessing the death of a young girl in her neighbourhood due to a lack of medical facilities. “My mother never allowed herself to be a victim and would [not] resign to her circumstances. I have tried to imbibe that mentality where I take on challenges and try to find solutions,” she adds.

Some of these challenges continued even when Arundhati pursued higher education at Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata. To get to college, she would travel to Dhanbad from Bokaro by bus at 3 am and then hop onto a 6 am train to Kolkata. It was a long journey, but she did it and did it all alone.

“In life, I have faced difficult times, but I could get out of it soon enough. Sometimes we tend to externalise failures and blame others. Instead, I would say internalise failures. Sit back and think, what did I do and what could I have done better? That helps you grow stronger,” adds the Salesforce India CEO.

Laying the groundwork for the future

Arundhati Bhattacharya never had a protective shield, and she wants the younger generation to experience life in its raw form as well.

“Life is never easy. I see a lot of parents shielding their children from challenges. My advice to them is to allow their children to experience things firsthand. For instance, if you have a job transfer, take them along. Let them experience new locations, new cultures, new languages, and learn from real-life occurrences,” she adds.

The banker-turned-corporate-leader has a similar piece of advice for women as well. She believes that having an identity is most important for women, apart from being referred to as the wife, sister, mother, or daughter of someone else.

“Education is the first step towards empowerment of women, closely followed by financial independence. I would advise women to think about a career, not just a job,” she explains.

Arundhati also has a few other pointers for younger generations:

• Have a dependable team at work and home
• Acknowledge your family’s needs and be kind to them
• Find people you trust
• Delegate work
• Don’t be proud, ask for help
• Don’t sweat the small stuff

After a four-decade stint at SBI, Arundhati Bhattacharya entered a brand new industry with Salesforce India. She believes that no amount of preparation could have helped.

“I am driven by instinct. Preparation can only take you so far, so the more you develop your instincts, the better it is,” she adds.

Heading Salesforce India, Arundhati had to carve out her position, especially since this was the first time that a CEO was being appointed in the country. It meant that she was responsible for developing her job profile and building an enabling platform for the brand in India.

“SBI and Salesforce might look different, but at the heart, they are still similar. Both are serving customers, are in the services industry, and are value-based organisations. That gave me the impetus to say yes,” she adds.

Arundhati Bhattacharya has made her mark, as a banker, as a successful corporate chief executive, and also as an author. Her memoir, Indomitable: A Working Woman's Notes on Work, Life and Leadership, was published in January 2022 and chronicles her life in a male-dominated industry.

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I am possible!’” writes Arundhati in her memoir quoting Audrey Hepburn. It is a quote that the veteran leader truly swears by.