Bengaluru Chapter Puts the Spotlight on the ‘Broken Rung’ in India’s Gender Equity Journey
The state chapter brought together influential leaders from policy, enterprise, defence, and DEI—including Shobana Kamineni, Hitendra Dave, Rajesh Varrier, Jaya Jagadish and more
CNBC-TV18 successfully hosted the Bengaluru edition of HSBC presents Future. Female. Forward. Season 3, co-presented by Cognizant India, to a packed house of policymakers, industry leaders, and DEI advocates. Following its impactful national launch in Mumbai, the Bengaluru chapter zeroed in on a critical, and often under discussed barrier to achieving gender parity: the ‘broken rung’ that can hold women back from progressing into leadership roles.
Opening the evening, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18, delivered a compelling call to action that set the tone for the discussions ahead. “We created CNBC-TV18 Future. Female. Forward. —to build a space where women in full flow could speak, challenge, and lead. Today, women founders still receive only 2.3% of total capital, globally under 3%, and in India, just 6% in H1 2025. That’s not a pipeline problem; that’s a design flaw. From AI to public infrastructure, this city sits at the edge of innovation, yet the blueprint remains exclusionary. Equity must be the earliest principle, not a late-stage correction. And that’s the conversation we’re committed to pushing forward—with facts, with courage, and with community.”
The evening began with Hitendra Dave, CEO, HSBC India, reflecting on Embedding Equity: The HSBC India Inclusion Playbook. He emphasized the need for strong institutional frameworks and measurable outcomes to build truly inclusive cultures.
He said, “Over the last three years, we’ve started a conversation—one that challenges us to rethink how we approach inclusion, not as a multi-decadal aspiration, but as a series of deliberate, incremental actions. Each season, each dialogue, and each story reminds us that looking away is not an option and while the journey is complex and nuanced, what matters is that we are moving in the right direction. At HSBC, we take pride in playing a small but meaningful role in fostering these conversations that bring us closer to a future where equity is not just an ideal, but a reality.”
Taking the stage next, Shobana Kamineni, Executive Chairperson of Apollo HealthCo, delivered a compelling fireside chat titled Prescription for Disruption: The Kamineni Code.
She shared: “Women aren’t short on ideas, intelligence, or ambition, but they’re funded like they are. Globally, women-led businesses raised just $108 billion last year, and India accounted for a mere ₹25 crore. You can’t talk about scale without real capital. If we want more women in leadership, we need to back them not just with applause, but with board seats, and belief in their ability to lead mainstream, high-impact ventures, not just niche ones.”
The evening also featured a case‑led session by Pooja Sharma Goyal, Founding CEO of The Udaiti Foundation, titled Leading with Purpose, Building with Equity. Drawing on lived experience, she outlined practical frameworks that turn inclusive‑growth theory into action.
A high-impact panel discussion titled Purpose, Parity & Performance brought together an esteemed lineup of leaders, including Bhawna Agarwal (SVP & MD, HPE India), Rajesh Varrier (President – Global Operations and Chairman & Managing Director, Cognizant India), Jaya Jagadish (Country Head & SVP, AMD India), Meena Ganesh (Co-founder & Chairperson, Portea; Trustee, Bahaar Foundation), and Sunita Naik (SVP & Country Lead – India, State Street Investment Management).
During the panel discussion, Rajesh Varrier, President – Global Operations and Chairman & Managing Director, Cognizant India, offered a large-enterprise perspective on building inclusive workforce strategies. “Inclusion isn’t just about hiring; it’s about building systems and structural interventions that support a woman’s entire career journey. That’s why we created Shakti —a unified framework of programs and policies designed to empower women from college to corporate leadership, enabling them to realise their full potential. Also, we know that progress is most powerful when supported by allies—those who advocate, amplify, and help open doors,” he noted.
From a global capital lens, Sunita Naik, Senior Managing Director & India Lead of State Street Investment Management, illustrated how inclusion is being hardwired into investment decisions and organizational culture, moving beyond token gestures to measurable accountability. Sunita said, “At State Street Investment Management, we didn’t just advocate for inclusion; we built it into our leadership. Our CEO is an Asian-American woman, our operating group is majority women, and our board is 50% women. This isn’t about eliminating men; it’s about proving that diverse teams outperform. Real change happens when women lead at every level, not just entry level. From the iconic Fearless Girl to our own boardroom, we’re showing that inclusion drives performance, not just perception.”
The evening saw the signature “FFF ICONS” segment where a remarkable group of individuals whose contributions span sport, science, social change, and national service were honoured. Among the honorees were Shreyasi Joshi and Swarali Joshi – Skater Sisters; Alina Alam – Founder & CEO, Mitti Café; Sonal Holland – Founder & Director, SoHo Wines; Savithri H. S – Former Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Lt Commander Roopa Alagirisamy and Lt Commander Dilna K – Indian Navy; India’s first all-women mine rescue unit, SMART-191, Singareni Mahila Active Rescue Team; Sandhya Puchalapalli – Founder & President, Aarti for Girls; Roshni Devi – National-Level Weightlifter; and Meena Ganesh – Co-founder & Chairperson, Portea, and Trustee, Bahaar Foundation.
Lt Commander Dilna K, a commissioned officer in the Indian Navy, spoke about her life journey navigating a male-dominated force with resilience and clarity. Reflecting on her partnership with fellow officer Lt Commander Roopa Alagirisamy, she shared: “Roopa and I trained together, went through life and death situations, and spent more time at sea than on land. You get to know everything about the other person; there’s no space to be enemies. When I wasn’t okay, she was there to take over, and when she wasn’t, I stepped in. That teamwork was the real success of this journey.”
The evening closed with a clear message: fixing the broken rung isn’t a side issue, it’s central to building stronger institutions. From rethinking how promotions work to ensuring fairness in performance evaluations, the conversations throughout this pivotal event called on organizations to act with intent, not just awareness. Parity, the room agreed, must be designed into the system, not added as an afterthought.