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Vandita Pant: Chief Financial Officer, BHP
Overview
Published 29th July, 2026.
Episode #267 features Vandita Pant, Chief Financial Officer of BHP, one of the world's largest resources companieswith a market capitalisation of approximately US$150 billion and annual revenue of around US$55 billion.
This is Vandita's first-ever podcast interview.
Growing up in Delhi, India in a family of academics, Vandita reflects on her childhood dinner table debates, teachers and love of books for shaping the curiosity that has defined her career. After studying at Shri Ram College and IIM Lucknow, she built a global career across India, Singapore, Japan and the UK before joining BHP, where she now helps oversee the financial strategy of a company at the centre of AI, electrification and the energy transition.
In this conversation, Vandita shares why she deliberately pursued unfamiliar challenges, the career setback that unexpectedly led her into risk management, what it was like helping steer RBS through the Global Financial Crisis, the leadership lessons from earning trust in Japan, why she believes the modern CFO is a value creator rather than a scorekeeper, how she thinks about AI and capital allocation, and why Australia and India have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deepen their economic partnership.
Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.
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Welcome to the 12th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport. Other guests in this series include Bank of America's Head of Capital Commitments Gautam Chari, Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.
Show notes
Timestamps
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport in the US, Australia, India and New Zealand. Launched in 2020, it ranks in the global top ten ranked podcasts, with listeners in 27 countries, 250+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our 250+ guests over the past 6.5 years include: Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (CEO, BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), David Haber (Partner, a16z), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America).
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