Women at the electric wheel

The Indian electric vehicle industry can bring about two transformations at the same time. One, it can engineer a change on our roads and in the air we breathe, courtesy the new cleaner technology. Two, it can also unveil a new managerial culture where the transformation can be substantially led by women. It is quite remarkable that more and more women have started taking up their position at the wheel of companies that are actively engaged in the electric vehicle industry in the country.

Some of these companies with women leaders include Mahindra Electric, Kinetic Green, Convergence Energy Solutions, Evolet, Esmito. While Kinetic Green is directly involved in the production of electric vehicles such as e-autos, e-buggies and cargo vehicles, Mahindra Electric steers the electric vehicle policy of the M&M group, one of the automotive majors in the Indian market. Evolet, too, makes electric two-wheelers. Convergence works in the non-conventional energy sector and is currently focussing on switch to electric public vehicle transportation for several states and building grid-scale storage batteries.

It will be a spectacular achievement if more and more women begin leading the electric vehicle charge in the country. It is unfortunate that despite their inborn managerial skills on many fronts, especially with money matters and interpersonal relations, women continue to plat second fiddle to men at workplaces. Managing an automobile firm is certainly a complex job that needs top rate strategising and marketing skills in a competitive market and smooth coordination with dozens of vendors. However, a giant such as General Motors that clocked a revenue of $37.52 billion in 2020, is being steered by Mary Barra for close to eight years now.

Indian women are not short of skills on any front. They have run FMCG companies, big banks, stock exchanges, biotechnology companies, manufacturing companies, entertainment companies, steel behemoths and pharma companies. There is no reason they cannot efficiently run companies in the electric vehicle space. Whenever future generations will breathe cleaner air, they will remember the role of women leaders in the transformation.