Bhavana Bindra's Outperformance Driven By Her Adrenaline Rush
For a female corporate honcho like Bhavana Bindra, who is also it is more of an adrenaline rush that enabled her to get into unchartered territories. After passing out from prestigious institutes like Shri Ram College of Commerce & IIM Bangalore, she could have settled for a cushy job in the FMCG, Banking or other booming industries. However, she chose to go off the beaten track and went for a gruelling assignment by starting her career at Boston Consulting Group before joining (and later re-joining) the Automotive business unit of Cummins India. She is now among the Board of Directors and is also the Vice President & Business Head - Distribution Business Unit of Cummins Group in India.
Talking to BW Businessworld on phone, she said, "When I joined Cummins, I wanted to prove the point that one can be successful in an engineering and manufacturing sector without having an engineering background. Secondly, when I joined the company, there were only 7% women (out of the total workforce) and I wanted to check the trend and the messages that I had in a traditional male-dominated industry. Thirdly, it was a logical progression for me after having a stint at BCG. So I joined the automotive arm of Cummins and was actually involved with execution of projects and setting up those business units. That was actually an opportunity (for me) to help people understand that as a women I am no less than my male counterpart. For me it was more of an adrenaline rush to join Cummins and build the business."
It may be recalled that Bhavana Bindra played a prominent role in the expansion of the enginemaking unit of Cummins by adding the number of clients from just one (Tata Motors) to five now (by including Volvo- Eicher, AMW and Ashok Leyland). She is now managing aftermarket support across India for over half a million Cummins engines in Mining, Railways, Power generation, Defence, etc. with presence across 250 locations. The division she is currently heading is worth Rs. 1,300 crore and accounts for more than one-fourth of Cummins India's total revenues.
