Naina Lal Kidwai, Head of HSBC Bank India

When it comes to India, there are a lot of stereotypes. For instance, I get asked time and again about treatment of women in India, often in a wistful, lamenting tone. Granted there is a huge issue of female illiteracy, and every now and then one hears of the tragic stories of female infanticide, but that alone doesn’t tell the whole story. By and large Indian women, unlike their counterparts in neighboring countries like Iran, Afghanistan or Pakistan, participate in the society in a very big way, often taking on leadership roles not only in social (eg. Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Movement) and political realm (eg. Indira Gandhi), they also occupy great positions of power in the world of business. So, I am very glad that NY Times decided to do a feature on the success women have achieved in the tony world high finance. Here is a quote…

HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Fidelity International in India are run by women. So is the country’s second-biggest bank, Icici Bank, and its third-largest, Axis Bank. Women head investment banking operations at Kotak Mahindra and JPMorgan Chase and the equities division of Icici. Half of the deputy governors at the Reserve Bank of India are women.

If you would like to read the whole story, simply click on this link. Let us celebrate the success of these Indian women and recognize the Indian society for creating such opportunities. I have two daughters - Jaya and Jiya, and although they live here in US, it is very important to me that they should know of the success Indian women are enjoying within India.

And, oh don’t forget to get your purchases in by the end of the month. As you know, Jaya Teas will donate 25% of the proceeds from all the sales from January 16th to the end of the month to International Red Cross to support our neighbor Haiti’s rebuilding efforts. Read more about it here.