Dream to Reality – Beautiful days were those
Punctuality is the most important virtue in corporate life if you want to be successful at least in the initial years when you are minnows in the office, someone said. So there I was right at 9AM, dressed in business formals, in front of a beautiful campus, in the heart of Mumbai, of my summer internship organization where I had to spend next 8 weeks of my life. However, this criterion was not supposed to be applied for the Small Finance Bank or may be on that particular day. After long hours with some tense and curious moments, I was given a project to work upon for next 8 weeks. I was supposed to report to the branch Assistant Vice President of the Treasury department I have been allotted to. But the day was already over.
Next day was an interesting one. As I walked on in my search I went through some nostalgic moments. Though search for the office, located in a peculiar location, in the hot sun was a pain I was thankful to summer internship project for bringing me those beautiful memories of college days. Finally, in the afternoon I reached my office. I had discussion with my Company guide on the topic assigned to me “A study on deposit analysis of Small Finance bank and the comparison with Universal Bank” for atleast one hour. She started talking about the sea change in the banking sector which had taken place in her 6 yrs tenure. We discussed about almost everything even slightly related to the topic. It was a great learning experience.
There are large number of Universal Banks like Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, etc which have established decades ago and their business model is standardized but AU Small Finance Bank is new and is evolving. So SFB’s have to face numerous challenges with regards to meeting the standard operating practices under the guidelines given by RBI.
The key objectives of the scheme are:
Small banks are expected to meet credit and remittance needs of small businesses, farmers, micro and small industries, unorganized sector, low income households and migrant work force through high technology-low cost operations.
I always dreamt of working in the cozy AC offices while attending summer placement interviews. Contrary to that I had to travel every day for almost 2 hours in scorching summer. I had to meet bank officers of all the branches as well as customers of the bank spread over the length and breadth of the city. On the way I experienced the known truth. Extracting the required information from the government officials is as difficult as taking back given toy from the recalcitrant child. Having spent most part of my life in army area, it was probably for the first time I was dealing with the government departments. I sympathize with all those souls who are not in influential position and have to deal with government’s offices on regular basis for their various needs. Having said that I feel situation is improving in most of the government offices these days.
The toughest part of the job was to keep myself motivated all the time as there was no supervision. I was assigned the project for the duration of 8 weeks at the end of which I had to submit my report with the findings. There was no one to push me to do the job. It’s your own enthusiasm and curiosity to learn which will sail you through, said one of my colleague in AU. Ultimately even others in the office who were indifferent to my work initially started taking interest. After persistent demand for appointment with the rating agency and Mutual fund I got the chance to meet them and take their perspective.
All those long travels, interaction with financial services sector, dealing with government officials and bank officers were an unforgettable experience. The journey, although a roller coaster ride, was interesting and happening, primarily because of the amazing people I got to met.