IWD - Meenaxi Rawat, IES, Chief Vigilance Officer & Sanjeeta Koul Gupta, General Manager and Team Incharge, IS applications, BPCL.

BPCL PODCAST

In this special episode of the BPCL podcast, two women leaders - Meenaxi Rawat, IES, Chief Vigilance Officer and, Sanjeeta Koul Gupta, General Manager and Team In charge, IS applications, at BPCL, celebrate International Women's Day and talk about Female Leadership and the importance of gender equality in the BPCL workforce.

Transcript:

Sukhoon:  Hi, and welcome to the latest episode of the BPCL Podcast - "Unlocking Possibilities, Empowering Lives.” In this series of podcasts, listen to conversations with thought leaders from the industry on the future of the energy landscape. In today's episode, which is just in time for International Women's Day, we are celebrating Female Leadership.

Joining us today are two amazing leaders from BPCL, Ms. Meenaxi Rawat, IES, who is the Chief Vigilance Officer and Ms. Sanjeeta Koul Gupta, who is the General Manager and Team In-charge, IS Applications at BPCL. Happy Women's Day to both of you and welcome to the show.

Meenaxi Rawat & Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: Thank you. Thank you.

Sukhoon: Once again, thank you for joining us, Meenaxi Ma’am and Sanjeeta ma’am. I think it's time that we get chatting. So Meenaxi Ma’am, will you please tell us a little more about yourself?

Meenaxi Rawat: First of all, I wish you all a very Happy International Women’s day. Let's celebrate every day as women's day. About myself, you know, I come from a humble middle-class family and I was born in a village in Uttarakhand state and was raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. I did my schooling and college in BA Economics honours, and university, in fact, M.A and M.Phil in economics and also did one year of Rajasthan State Service in Jaipur itself. So I joined my Indian Economic Service in 1993. Yes, and served in eight different departments of the government of India and posted in a different part of India also. And I'm in Bharat Petroleum as a Chief Vigilance Officer for the last one and a half years. Yeah. I would like to mention here that, I'm also into running since 2013 and have run many half-marathons. Recently run the TATA marathon in January. And you guys, my passion and, I have been practising since, from the last 19 years, yes. And I could overcome many ailments due to yoga and it has really made me a very disciplined and you know, balanced person I feel. And personally, as far as the personal front is concerned, I have two daughters and, my husband is working for TATA in Mumbai.

Sukhoon: I love how you're so passionate about Yoga and marathons. Here I am, every single day, telling myself that today is the day I'm going to make a change and make sure I at least finish my 10,000 steps. So maybe after chatting up with you today, I might just find my inspiration. But thank you for sharing this bit about yourself. Moving on to you, so Sanjeeta ma’am, how has your journey been at BPCL? What has it been like for you being associated with such a prestigious organisation over all these years?

Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: See, I joined BPCL way back in 1995, and I have put in almost 28 years of service. During this period, I got to work in various roles, initially in a team under Engineering & projects, and later CPO. And then, in the IT domain, when I was moved to the IS department. Currently, I am a part of the corporate IT team, which we are also referred to as IS team, Applications Domain. Our team is handling applications for processes pertaining to procure-to-pay finance, capital investment, real estate, master data, and SAP Access Authorisation Management. The primary responsibility for delivering technology-driven solutions for business problems, touching both internal and external stakeholders. If I have to summarize in one line, we will say that we innovate to build digital tools to make business processes simpler and easier, within the framework of process compliance, governance, and enhanced user experience.

Sukhoon: Well, digital is the way to go, Sanjeeta ma'am. So, I think you are definitely doing a fantabulous job and I'm still hanging onto the bit where you said you started work with BPCL in 1995. I think I was probably in school at that point in time. So, but moving on to our next question, which is for, Meenaxi ma’am. So Meenaxi ji, what is your take on equal opportunities for men and women in professional life and, what are your experiences in this regard?

Meenaxi Rawat: Yeah, regarding equal opportunities, you know, if I feel personally if you feel that, you know, many people like most people who are from the urban background, we are fortunate that personally, we got many opportunities to educate in better places and also get into the services. And, for me, my father was a very progressive person, so he gave us both - we’re daughters - a good opportunity to study. And, we were never in a hurry to get married. In our time marriage used to be at the age of 21, but I got married at 27. My sister got married at 28, and she's a professor. So, only after achieving our career that we got married. So that is the first part. Not many people get this. And I feel that there's a perception also, you know, there's occupation segregation over the years. There's a division of labour. Men are perceived as bread earners and women as primary care caregiver kind o a thing. That also impacts a lot, that kind of, you know, perception. Professionally, I feel that once I entered into the services, organized services. There's a very lot of difference between being in an organized service and an unorganized service. When you're in an organized service, I feel that we get good equal opportunities and it is up to us to really work hard. Once we clear the civil services, all our men and women need to work hard and, you know, build their reputation. Accordingly, assignments come your way. In fact, I feel that your reputation travels before you reach to a place. In the organized sector, I think we get good opportunities to prove our calibre. We have to work hard for it.

Sukhoon: Well, I think the one thing that you said, Meenaxi ji that, you know, the reputation travels before you do is applicable to any industry that you're a part of. I think, be it an organized sector or an unorganized sector or speaking of the industry that I am a part of, you know, like media places also work the same way. So I think it's a good point that you've mentioned where you know, one needs to work hard, get the right education, and grab the right opportunities, and definitely work hard. And continuing with the same chain of thought - Sanjeeta ji, my next question is for you. You mentioned at the beginning how you have been working with BPCL since 1995, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of changes. But how has it been working as part of the technology team here? Was gender ever a challenge? Did you ever face any tough times or did you ever have any lost opportunities because you were a woman?

Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: See, a lot of opportunities that came to us along the way and working has been very exciting, very eventful. And, that has kept me going. It has been a very, very exciting journey. It has been a great and enriching experience to be part of Corporate IS team of BPCL. You see, BPCL as an organization, has always been ahead in using technology. We were one of the first organizations in Oil & Gas to have implemented ERP, which integrated all of our business processes on a single platform. It was a major milestone and effectively started the digital journey of BPCL. Now, working in IS team has helped me in learning business processes across the organization because we cater to all businesses and entities, whether it is a new business process or a change in the existing process, our team that is the IS team has a role to play. Even when people, new people join or existing role holders move from one business to another, IS team gets involved in knowledge sharing as well. This, in turn, helps us to assess the pain points and areas of improvement. Now, I am extremely thankful to this organization for providing me with immense opportunities to be part of this digital journey. I have, in fact, been part of teams responsible for implementing some of the pathbreaking digital initiatives, which laid a solid foundation for digital transformation. In fact, I was fortunate because I even got the opportunity to lead some of these project implementations. Currently, also, we are focusing on creating digital tools for ease of working, business analytics and back-end automation. So, overall working in IS team has been eventful as we always have a new business problem to be solved. A lot of thinking, creativity, and effort goes into delivering a system solution or rolling out, say, a mobile application. So, it is really very exciting to be involved in all this. Now, coming to the second part of your question, whether gender was a challenge, the answer is simple. NO. In fact, this thought has also never crossed my mind in all these years. We got all the support and freedom to innovate and experiment in these 28 years, I would say.

Sukhoon: Now, 28 years in itself is a milestone, Sanjeeta ji. Congratulations on being here for that long, and I'm sure your expertise and your knowledge will continue enhancing BPCL’s presence. Moving on to our next question Meenaxi ma’am - I would love for you to help us understand. In your opinion, how can women achieve success while maintaining the right work-life balance and avoiding burnout? Or, I would love for you to just simply, you know, help us understand what makes you a “superwoman.”

Meenaxi Rawat: I think, I believe that I do not believe in idolizing the term “superwoman”. We are all just humans and applauding this term, makes, you know, women expect too much from themselves and then eventually leads to a lot of stress. So this superwoman term, I don't feel sometimes this really, you feel like doing everything on your own. I feel like, you need to be a great manager, and delegate the work to your spouse, to your family and in the office also, you need to delegate to your subordinates and that, obviously supervision will always be yours. And, try to develop a great support system. That will take you a long way. In fact, all the, you know, woman achievers you read about. In Indra Nooyi’s achievement, I was just reading her bio-data. I think that there's a book about her. So there also, her mother also supports her and her husband also sacrificed a lot for her career. So this kind of support system is required, when your kids are young and also later on. And I feel that mental strength is also very important. If you feel that I have to do something, then you have been able to do it. That mental strength I think comes over the time with experience and you build the kind of grit and determination to achieve something.

Sukhoon: Meenaxi ma’am, I absolutely love how you have steered our conversation to my next question because I truly think equality has to be across all spheres, and it is not about having any privilege on the basis of gender. Now, that said, Sanjeeta ma’am, I would love for you to tell us - what is your takeaway on using technology for gender equality in society at large?

Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: See, I believe that technology is a very, very powerful tool which can be used to empower women in multiple ways. One of the first and foremost ways and the important areas where technology can make a huge, huge difference is education. Not having access to education has been a limitation for many girls and women in various sections of society. Education has now become more accessible thanks to digital devices, in the hands of people. Technology has enabled learning from anywhere and sometimes at our own convenience and comfort. That is why probably e-learning is gaining a lot of popularity. So going forward, it'll help in removing many barriers that created obstacles in accessing quality education. And once you have access to education, this will in turn open opportunities for employment and financial independence and much more such avenues. Secondly, I think technology is also opening up opportunities for women to start their own businesses, mainly due to the enablements with easy-to-use marketplaces, payment platforms, et cetera. Third thing is that post covid, there are many opportunities for women to work from home, wherever it is possible, and this will definitely help those women who otherwise face constraints in working away from home. I can tell you that, technology has given women a reason to aspire and achieve now, and I'm confident that this is going to be a game changer in near future.

Sukhoon: And that's definitely happening around us right now. In fact, the world that we live in is consciously becoming aware and empowering women with everything that's possible. And this year anyway, the theme for International Women's Day is choose to challenge. So I'm sure there will be many more glass ceilings that will be shattered. So actually, Meenaxi Ma’am, my next question is for you. How do you think we can advance the process of women's empowerment at work? What are the benefits of having empowered women like yourself and Sanjeeta ma’am at workplaces?

Meenaxi Rawat: I feel that, you know, a supportive institutional framework can immensely help advance the process of woman empowerment at work. For example, I will like to highlight this, in Bharat Petroleum last year, you know, they have come out with a policy for female employees for giving a choice of postings in the early part of their career so that they can get parental support in raising their kids. So these kinds of policies are very, very friendly to the woman. And recently, I was just reading that the Honorable Prime Minister also advocated to use the system - like flexible working hours to retain women in the labour force. So you must be knowing that woman's participation in the labour force is falling. It is, it was earlier 20%—25%, in fact, a decade back. This means one-fourth of the females were in the labour force. Now it has come down to 20%. 20% means one-fifth of the female forces in the labour force. So this is quite serious. It has a societal impact. It has an economic impact. But as compared, we know that, globally, women's labour participation is 50%. See where are we. So we need to have, to enable supportive institutional framework by each company and overall also as a policymaker, should have enabling provisions. First, I feel that if a woman empowered women at the labour force. So really sensitize the people around the workforce and so, encourage other women to look up to the achiever, those who are in leadership positions. In fact, when I was a child that time, our Prime Minister was Indira Gandhi, so I used to look up to her and used to dress like her dress and, you know, have her haircut like her. We have to idolize the women who are in higher positions, at the leadership place. And if you feel that they can achieve that, we can also achieve that. So this way, it is very important, but at the same time I feel that not only in the workplace but also in the household, it is very important. The way you the empowered woman is at home is the way sons are being raised. And in fact, I feel that a male colleague's view on women at the workplace has a lot to do with the women they are surrounded with at home. So both, professionally and personally, I think, it has a lot of importance.

Sukhoon: Well, we know it's true what they say - "all kinds of changes begin at home" - the good and the big ones. So, I think it's super important for anybody to look at the role models that they have around us. And I think you've touched the right point, Meenaxi Ma’am. My next question is for you, Sanjeeta ji. Speaking of everything that's happening around us and the way we are equally involved in trying to make sure that people around us are empowered, especially women. How do you see the future of work evolving in terms of gender equality and diversity?

Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: See, as I already said, that technology advancements are changing the dynamics and presenting new opportunities. I'm hopeful that more and more women will come forward in taking up new challenges, and this will increase every day. This will, in turn, benefit organizations as well as society, because diverse teams have their own benefits. Diverse teams are more productive, perform better, boost creativity and innovation and decision-making is also better. And it also helps us at creating a wider pool in the workplace. So it is beneficial to all and I see this happening sometime in the near future only.

Sukhoon: Sanjeeta Ma’am, I think you've said what was on my mind. Unity in diversity, which seems to work well for society and for the country as well. Moving on to our next question, Meenaxi ma’am, what advice would you give to women who are seeking to advance their careers in male-dominated industries like ours?

Meenaxi Rawat: So, as I told you, there is definitely grit and your determination in not giving up are foremost important. We all dream very big and those who succeed, you know, those few successful ones who don't give up. So I feel that there is always a failure in everybody's path, but those who's faced the fear, faced the, you know, failure and learn out of it, they win over it. So I feel that, we should, all people should, there are so many opportunities around us. We should recognize opportunities that come our way and try to make the best use of it. And also, this is also very important that you surround yourself with positive people, the right people. They are our greatest influencers. You know, don't bother about the criticism. If you're surrounded by nice people, positive people, you really work very nicely. And, I also normally say that you don't take yourself very seriously. You should be sincere. Sincere but, not serious. And lastly, I will say take very good care of yourself. Your body is your partner, life partner. It's not your spouse, your kids, or your family relative. I learned it the hard way. That's why I'm telling you. So you take one hour for yourself. It's “me time”. Don't feel bad about it. This “me time” is for mental, spiritual and physical well-being. If you are good and healthy, then you benefit the organization and your family in the long run. Lastly, my word will be that - Be fierce. Be fearless. Be flawed.

Sukhoon: Now that, I want it on a T-shirt. I think I will definitely get it printed. Meenaxi ma’am, thank you. Be fierce. Be fearless and flawed - because I think we do tend to pressurise ourselves too much with goals, with expectations. I think it's okay to let down a little and let go a little. Thank you so much for this Meenaxi ma’am. This has been really motivating for me, right from ensuring that I do wake up and find time for myself to counting my 10,000 steps. But before I let you both go, one last question. What advice will you give to younger women joining BPCL and what expectations do they need to set, Sanjeeta ma'am?

Sanjeeta Koul Gupta: See, I have to tell them that you will be becoming part of a great organization once you join BPCL. There will be many opportunities that will come. So grab the chances and opportunities when they come to you. Don't be afraid. Do not preoccupy your mind with any kind of limitations. This organization will always support you to excel, to help you excel in your professional roles.

Sukhoon: Thank you both for being here on the special podcast today and sharing so much wisdom and experiences that you've garnered over the last few years. In fact, decades of, you know, life and work both at BPCL. This podcast will definitely have a greater impact on women in the workspace for sure.

Meenaxi Rawat: Thank you very much.

That was Ms Meenaxi Rawat, IES, who is the Chief Vigilance Officer, and Ms Sanjeeta Koul Gupta, who is the General Manager and Team In-charge, IS applications at BPCL.

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