Saturday, 26 September 2026

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Women Leaders

Breaking the boardroom ceiling: Priya Kapoor on leading a 100-year-old company

The first woman to lead her family’s century-old textile group explains how she modernised it without losing its soul.

PK

When Priya Kapoor was named chairperson of Kapoor Mills in 2020, several senior managers resigned within a month. The company had been led by men from the family for four generations.

She spent her first year listening — visiting every plant and meeting more than 2,000 employees in small groups. What she heard shaped a three-part plan: sustainable fabrics, digital sales and a promotion system based on performance rather than tenure.

Numbers that silenced doubters

Four years later, revenue has nearly doubled, 30 percent of the managers are women, and the group’s recycled-fibre line is its fastest-growing business.

Tradition is not what you preserve. It is what you choose to carry forward — and what you have the courage to put down.

Priya Kapoor

“People expected me to either copy my father or rebel against him,” she says. “I did neither. I asked what the company needed next.”

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