Kolkata: As many as 13 senior finance leaders, speaking at an event on Saturday, shattered the conventional wisdom that institutional-scale finance careers require moving to cities like Mumbai, highlighting instead that Bengal’s financial ecosystem spent three decades quietly reinventing itself. The speakers were leading panels at the fifth edition of the CAJobPortal × BetaFin Networking Event, themed “Resurgent Bengal & Its Impact on Careers,” in Kolkata. The panellists spoke on how global operations can be anchored from Kolkata.While Pramod Gupta (Group CFO, Adventz Group) highlighted his trajectory from Haldia Petrochemicals to global heights, Sanjay Banka (Group CFO, Senco Gold and Diamonds) told the story of engineering one of the region’s most successful IPO listings. Highlighting the scale achievable in the region, Kaushik Ghosh (CFO, Berger Paints) explained how the firm managed major Ind-AS and GST migrations across 14 subsidiaries while remaining firmly headquartered in Kolkata.The speakers emphasised shifting mindsets over geographical limitations. Harish Agarwal (Managing Partner, EY India Consulting) urged professionals to overcome a “poverty of aspiration,” noting that Kolkata’s family-business dominance brings operational efficiency, much like promoter-driven global giants. Sanjeev K Sancheti (Founder Partner, Uirtus Advisors) shared his success steering major IPOs, like Netweb Technologies, by advising managements to “under-promise and over-deliver.”Further validating the region’s professional viability, Subir Verma (ED & CHRO, RPSG Group Power Business) discussed relocating from Mumbai to Kolkata at the peak of his career. Urvashi Bhura (VP, Guiltfree Industries, RPSG Group) asserted that digital connectivity eliminates geographic barriers, noting: “Your PIN Code really does not matter when you are building a business in today’s digital era,” as she spearheads global brand expansion straight from Bengal.
