Episode 08: In Talks with Ms. Gauri Mudkavi-Kulkarni

Recorded On 15^th February, 2026
In this episode, Gauri Mudkavi-Kulkarni,Vice President, Information Technology at Renault, sits down with Vidya for a conversation that begins on a personal note: the two were classmates at the same Marathi-medium school in Vile Parle, suburban Mumbai.

From that shared starting point, Gauri traces her path from a middle-class household in Vile Parle, Mumbai, to a global IT leadership role at one of the world’s largest automotive groups - via Godrej Consumer Products, two decades at Danone, and postings across China, Singapore, Indonesia, France, and the UK.

The conversation moves through all five Es, and Gauri keeps returning to one figure who shaped her endowment: her father, born into poverty, who provided his daughters with the opportunity to explore, learn, and be confident.

To this she adds her innate gifts, including what she calls ‘practical thinking’ - the capacity to detach from a decision and weigh it cleanly. The same instinct, years later, made her opt for systems audit at Godrej, a posting most chartered accountants avoided, which quietly pivoted her career into IT. Gauri recalls moving to Shanghai in 1999, when only a few hundred Indians lived in the city, and bicycling to KPMG, EY, and several other firms.

Gauri offers a sharp diagnosis of what capable women routinely underplay. They overplay perfectionism, refusing to raise their hand until they feel ‘more than fully ready.’ They under-communicate their problems, assuming others, particularly men, will simply notice. And they undervalue conscious professional networking.

To download the episode transcript, click here