How Betting on Myself Led Me from Analyst to CEO? Roopa Kudva, Ex-CEO CRISIL

In 1992, Roopa Kudva walked into CRISIL’s CEO Pradeep Shah’s office without an appointment, starting her 23-year career there. She spent over two decades at CRISIL, rising from analyst to CEO. Roopa has spent over 3 decades in leadership roles in India and has witnessed three key phases in India’s growth: the closed economy in the 80s, the post-liberalisation era, and the rise of tech entrepreneurs.

She shares bold decisions that defined her journey. Like when she proposed to the then CRISIL CEO to create the Chief Ratings Officer role and pitched herself for it. She got the role, which set her on the path to becoming CEO.

We also discuss the leaders who shaped her thinking, K.V. Kamath of ICICI, Piyush Gupta of DBS, and Katharine Graham of the Washington Post.

Throughout the conversation, Roopa returns to one idea: there is no single leadership style or fixed playbook. Her journey shows how ambition and initiative to act at the right moment can define a career and the organizations one builds along the way.

0:00 —Trailer
1:21 — IIM to IDBI
3:54 — Work Culture in the 80s
5:58 — Rise of New-Age Companies
6:55 — The Aha Moment of Leadership View
8:52 — Leaving CRISIL After 23 Years
10:49 — Choosing Omidyar & Impact Investing
16:03 — India’s Evolving Risk Appetite
20:40 — Deciding the Next Career Move
26:08 — How She Got the CRISIL Job
31:09 — Asking for the CRO Role
35:48 — Promotions Are Bets on the Future
37:37 — The Leader Who Changed Her Philosophy
43:40 — ICICI as a Women-CEO Factory
45:36 — What Holds Women Back from Rising
51:38 — DBS: The Piyush Gupta Transformation
55:06 — Entrepreneurs for the Next Half Billion
1:02:47 — The New Indian Founder Profile
-------------
India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.
This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.
What is Neon Fund?
We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.
Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.
-------------
Check us out on:
Website: https://neon.fund/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/
Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShoww

Connect with Siddhartha on:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/
Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7
-------------
This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice. Receive SMS online on sms24.me

Watch on YouTube

Subscribe on YouTubeReaderBot

TubeReader video aggregator is a website that collects and organizes online videos from the YouTube source. Video aggregation is done for different purposes, and TubeReader take different approaches to achieve their purpose.

Our try to collect videos of high quality or interest for visitors to view; the collection may be made by editors or may be based on community votes.

Another method is to base the collection on those videos most viewed, either at the aggregator site or at various popular video hosting sites.

TubeReader site exists to allow users to collect their own sets of videos, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others; TubeReader can develop online communities around video sharing.

Our site allow users to create a personalized video playlist, for personal use as well as for browsing and viewing by others.

@YouTubeReaderBot allows you to subscribe to Youtube channels.

By using @YouTubeReaderBot Bot you agree with YouTube Terms of Service.

Use the @YouTubeReaderBot telegram bot to be the first to be notified when new videos are released on your favorite channels.

Look for new videos or channels and share them with your friends.

You can start using our bot from this video, subscribe now to How Betting on Myself Led Me from Analyst to CEO? Roopa Kudva, Ex-CEO CRISIL

What is YouTube?

YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. You can even create and upload your own videos to share with others. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is now one of the most popular sites on the Web, with visitors watching around 6 billion hours of video every month.