NEW DELHI: Radhika Gupta, CEO of Edelweiss Asset Management and a trailblazer in Indiaโs financial sector, recently shared her personal experiences growing up as the daughter of an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer in a candid conversation with Rohan Dua, Executive Editor of The New Indian.
Gupta opened up about the misconceptions surrounding the life of diplomats, particularly the notion that they live an opulent lifestyle.
Gupta highlighted a common misunderstanding about the foreign service, saying, โPeople have a very strong misconception about foreign services and diplomats that they enjoy a very opulent life. Itโs not opulent by any means.โ
She added, โAs diplomats, of course, there is a certain kind of lifestyle, especially when the diplomats are senior. You get a certain house because you have to entertain, and the house is finally India House.โ
She explained that while high-ranking diplomats like her father, who served as a high commissioner and ambassador, lived in what is referred to as โIndia House,โ the luxuries associated with it were more symbolic than personal.
Radhika further emphasized, โIndia house will be nice because it is finally the representative of India, and you have to remember, and youโll get a car, you know your father will get a car and all. But these are all things that belong to the chair, not the person, and they go away when they retire. Discretionary income is not very high.โ
As someone deeply involved in the financial world, Gupta spoke about the relativity of wealth. โMoney is very relative. If I want to sit and compare myself to many people in India, I can feel very rich. If I want to sit and compare myself to Mark Zuckerberg, I can feel very poor.โ
She further reflected on the challenges diplomats face when living abroad, especially when surrounded by families with far higher incomes. โThe problem that happens in foreign service is if you live in a country and youโre going to the USA, Nigeria, and youโre going to an American school, everybody else whoโs attending the school is doing so because their father is a CEO or industrialist. Their income is high.โ
