Soma Ghosh brings 28+ years of expertise in corporate finance, digitalization, and governance. A strategic leader, she has driven major integrations, finance transformation, and mentoring initiatives. Previously, she held leadership roles at Cummins and Atlas Copco, advancing finance, compliance, and operational excellence.
In an engaging interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Soma shares her views on India's evolving financial landscape, emphasizing the role of women leaders in governance and digital transformation. She discusses balancing automation with financial oversight, post-pandemic financial planning, and integrating diversity into compliance strategies to ensure equal representation in decision-making.
How do you assess the current financial landscape in India? What role are women leaders playing in shaping the future of financial governance and digital transformation within organizations?
India, in its pursuit of being a Viksit Bharat by 2047, is indeed well-paced and is the fastest-growing economy in the world. We see the Union Budget 2025- 26, project a decline in the fiscal deficit – now @4.4 percent of GDP, which has been consistent as a trend towards financial independence of the country. Policy changes are introduced to positively impact sectors - manufacturing, healthcare, IT, infrastructure, etc., and finally introduce the huge reform on personal income tax to leave more money in the hands of the end consumer.
Now comes the role of women leaders. The biggest example is representation on Boards of companies. Women leaders bring diversity and empathy in dealing with complex issues with ease. At ZF, acting as change agents, women in technology contribute to the digital transformation, training people on advanced technologies. I see many women leaders in ZF adopting this change with an assertive attitude.
How do you balance the need for efficiency with ensuring robust financial governance, particularly in creating opportunities for women in finance roles?
We have an inclusive culture within the organization and especially within the finance function. Career development is based on a fair performance appraisal system, purely based on merit, irrespective of gender or any bias. Everyone participates in important projects, adding their views for a successful program completion– this is the DEI culture.
Training programs are designed based on individual needs, with specific attention to talent. There is a process of potential assessment where women in tech, women in critical roles are especially brought to the attention of Senior leadership to help with visibility and promote career growth. Women's leadership programs are specially designed to nurture women's talent and give them the required expertise.
Women are highly adaptive to disruptive technologies, embrace change, and further help with implementing change. To aid with the right culture, supportive policies are in place to help women deal with striking a fair balance between responsibilities at the workplace and home. This helps with retaining women's talent and goes a long way in harnessing the benefits of automation and finance tech while ensuring robust financial governance and creating a more inclusive environment for women in finance roles.
How has financial planning evolved post-pandemic? What strategies have you implemented to support the growth and leadership development of women in your team during these uncertain times?
Post post-pandemic era, starting from 2022, has experienced more flexibility in the work culture. We have allowed flexible work policies, a hybrid culture, and adaptive policies that allow women to deal with work pressure. Financial Planning as an exercise is all about business partnering, sharing the assumptions, gathering inputs from cross functions, evaluating strategies, and finally, giving guidance to management on targets for profitability.
Exposing women's talent to front face with cross-functional stakeholders and exposing them to front face customers has helped with bringing diversity in achieving targets. This includes creating a supportive culture where women feel valued. Further celebrating success adds to motivation and builds confidence among women as well.
As the finance function evolves with digital upskilling, how do you see the role of mentorship in empowering women leaders to bridge the gender gap and foster financial independence?
AI is critical to finance, and digital upskilling as an initiative is paramount. Many times, women's development towards upskilling talent is seen through biased lenses, especially when they are in the minority in the organization, despite possessing the right skillset. Placing women in critical projects for upskilling becomes a challenge when there are other preferences. Therefore, it is important to assign mentors that pave the way to career development based on aspirations.
ZF has a mentoring program where mentors volunteer and mentees choose their mentors. This is an extremely important initiative that helps mediate between the manager and the employee. Often, as a mentor, it is very heartening to see women getting leadership roles in the team. Organizations must focus on upskilling based on interests, provide fair opportunity to women talent and create a sense of belongingness for an acceptable DEI culture.
Given the increasing focus on compliance and internal controls, how do you integrate diversity and inclusivity in your strategic financial planning, ensuring women are equally represented in decision-making roles?
Diversity plays a key role in building a great business case in organizations. This is why there is a mandate by the Companies Act and SEBI to have women's representation on Boards. This helps conduct the meetings with various perspectives, diverse mindsets, and various views that help with balanced decisions, providing logical solutions to problems, bringing the empathy angle to whistle blower cases and overall helping with a disciplined conduct. Having a room with a diverse mix of gender brings great value to the table, establishing a culture of belongingness where each person gets a fair chance to be heard and respected. Women are playing a key role in decision-making. In ZF, the finance leadership has women leaders who are playing a critical role in shaping financial independence for the company, ensuring that they are heard and respected.
