Great topic...you are bang on👍🏼
You have opened up a thought provoking discussion...that Richa is insecure about her job and future and she hates to see that Ananya, whom she considers immature, winning the EIC's heart and attention. Very interesting angle you pointed out and I think you are right.
At the same time, I think there is more to it than meets the eye. I have been thinking for the last couple of weeks or more that Richa is insecured because she has a crush on Kabir and wants to be Kabir's favorite. Now that Kabir loves Ananya, she is jealous of their relationship and always talks ill of Kabir. It is not right to judge anyone without knowing facts, and that is exactly what Richa is doing about Kabir. Now all those bad things she says about Kabir, are those merely her orthodox views? Hmm I don't think so...she does not come across orthodox to me because (a) she is a journalist, which is a challenging job (b) she dresses in a quite modern way (c) she talks in a frank and open manner with both boys and girls which a lot of girls in India cannot do even these days. So I don't think she is conservative, then why she says such negative things about Kabir? I think she has some secret feelings for him. Her trying to fix Ananya and Ronnie...that makes me suspicious that she was secretly craving for Kabir's attention, and so wanted Ananya out of her way.
So in a nutshell I think Richa is insecure about her job and her future, insecure about Kabir's attention and is also very jealous of Ananya. I will add to that - she has a crush on Kabir and she tries to cover that up by badmouthing Kabir.
You are right - People like Richa exist, who pretend to be helping their friends, loving their friends, but actually are trying to harm them. I agree with you that the CVs have done a great job of representing a typical modern day work culture.