The two heroes of New York International Bank were charting their own course in their own ways across the continents. One was busy creating a name for himself in ITDP and the other was imprinting his name in the annals of retail banking in this country.
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Over the next decade, NYB became one of the largest foreign banks in India. The retail business that Aditya, Swami and Sundeep had set up was among the best and the most organised in this country. They established a footprint in all businesses that one could imagine a bank to be in. Among foreign banks on Indian soil, they had one of the largest branch networks. It soon became the most profitable foreign bank in the country as well. Their cards business had taken off to a roaring start, and they had a flourishing loans business. Car loans, home loans, personal loans—name it, and they had a loan for it.
The common joke in those days was that NYB was responsible for the traffic jams in Indian metros. NYB gave every Tom, Dick and Harry a loan to buy a car, and all of a sudden the number of new cars that flooded the streets grew manifold, leading to traffic jams, and nobody had built the roads to accommodate them.
Worldwide, New York International Bank had moved up one notch and was now the third largest bank in the world. It had got there by acquiring one of the top ten banks in the US. Ahead of it were Citibank and Bank of America, the two largest banks in the world.
After a very successful stint in the assets business, Sundeep moved on as the Head of Branch Banking. He managed the largest branch distribution of any foreign bank in India for over eighteen months.
NYB in India was a mean and hungry bank. They wanted to grow quickly and had identified Mergers and Acquisition as the means. Sundeep led the team that acquired the South India Urban Commercial Bank (SIUCB) that had a network of twenty-one branches. In those days, the laws for acquisition of banks in India were unclear. Sundeep fought through the loopholes in the law and managed the acquisition, adding those twenty-one branches to New York International Bank's network in one go. This was another feather in Sundeep's cap. That Naresh had a large role to play in this goes without saying. Naresh had made millions of dollars in the deal.
Sundeep was considered the king of banking. He brought out innovative lending products, which were almost always, but very cunningly, bank-friendly and customer-unfriendly.
With the acquisition of SIUCB and the rapid expansion in the branch network came in a new set of challenges. Providing quality service to the ever-expanding base of customers was proving to be tough. In those days, the customers were attuned to walking into the branch of a bank for getting any service. With customer acquisition numbers going through the roof, the branches started getting crowded. The only way to service these customers was to move them to alternative channels for service delivery. Sundeep decided to set up a full-scale in-house phone-banking unit.
A phone-banking unit in those days was heavily capital intensive. Sundeep knew very well that Suneel would turn down the request for such an investment because he was on his way out after two years in India. And once Suneel turned it down, he couldn't have set it up till such time that the new head Kailash Advani came in. Kailash was a career NYB'ite and was slated to move in from America where he had been instrumental in the consolidation of the South American operations of the bank.
He decided to wait till Suneel moved out to become the CEO of NYB in Poland. Sundeep had to work in his role for a period of six months before Kailash Advani could join in. Within six weeks of Suneel's leaving, Sundeep had put in place a new phone banking set-up.
Sundeep bought out the call centre that he had jointly set up with Naresh and expanded it to meet his projected capacities. The price he paid to Naresh for buying off his unit was astronomical. Of course, part of it was to come back to him. And there was no one to question him. No one would suspect Sundeep of misappropriation. What made matters easy for him was that no one at the head office knew the revenue-expenditure dynamics in India. It was an easy battle for Sundeep to win.
But one thing was for sure—whatever Sundeep touched, turned into gold. He won the Asia-Pacific Best Retail Banker Award for New York International Bank, four times in the six years that he was in the region. NYB swept all the awards in the financial services industry in India, in the businesses headed by him. Sundeep was recognised far and wide as a star.
After spending six years in various roles, Sundeep was finally made Deputy Head of Retail Banking in India—deputy to Kailash Advani. It was a role with large strategic impact, but little direct business responsibility. It was a big day for Sundeep. The newspapers had his photos splashed on the front pages. Business magazines hailed him as the next big thing in the Indian banking industry.
Sundeep Srivastava had finally arrived. Or so everyone thought until...
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One day Sundeep came back home very late from work. Natasha was waiting for him to have dinner. Sundeep didn't utter a word and walked straight into his bedroom. Natasha was wondering what went wrong at work. Within the next five minutes Sundeep was back and joined her at the dinner table.
'How would you like it if we were to go to London.'
'Last Tuesday you cancelled our vacation to Maldives. You said that some idiot was coming from overseas, and now you are talking about London.'
'Not for a holiday, silly.'
'Then what?'
'Kailash asked me today if I would like to head the NRI business based in London,' said Sundeep.
It was not a vacation. Sundeep was talking about leaving India for good and going to London. 'I was under the impression that you did not want to work overseas.' Sundeep had always given Natasha the impression that India was where the action is and so it would be stupid to move out, especially at a time when the country was going through an explosive growth phase.
'Yes, Nattie. But it will be worthwhile staying in India only if Kailash moves out and I get his job. But that's not going to happen soon. He has been sitting on that chair for the last four years and will be there for another four.'
Natasha was aware that Kailash was a very senior banker, a lifer at NYB, who had come back to India, to look after his aged and ailing mother in Mumbai. He was 51 years old, four years from retirement. There was only a slim chance of his moving out of India to an overseas assignment at this fag end of his career.
The next level job for Sundeep was definitely blocked for the next four years. He would constantly be the prince in waiting, a role that didn't appeal to him. An assignment in London could give him the required exposure to position him for larger roles globally. Natasha didn't argue with the logic thrown at her.
Honestly, she was indifferent. She didn't get to see much of Sundeep here and she wouldn't get to see much of him there as well. Her life revolved around Alka and Ajay, her two children. Sundeep had become a visitor in their lives.
They moved to London, where they stayed for four years.
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Natasha enjoyed London thoroughly. The kids loved it. Sundeep travelled all over the globe. He kept his friendship with Naresh intact, even though the deals died out. There was no business now where he could cut a deal with Naresh without raising eyebrows. Both Naresh and Sundeep were too clever to do anything visibly egregious. They were not in it for short-term gains.
The NRI business flourished under Sundeep. It turned into a goldmine. Once Sundeep took over the reins, it became the most profitable business for the Indian arm of New York International Bank, and remained that way four years in a row.
But success had already made Sundeep an animal. He had lost respect for people. He had become a maniac, a successful maniac. When a man tastes continued success, he cannot take failure. This was becoming Sundeep's biggest shortcoming. The same Sundeep, whose team in the erstwhile days consisted of performers, was now constantly surrounded by sycophants. And when the flattery came from the fairer sex, Sundeep was particularly gullible.
When still in London, Sundeep and Natasha completed thirteen years of their marr
ied life. Sundeep was a doting father. Alka was his pet. Natasha was as attractive as she used to be when Sundeep first met her. The birth of two kids hadn't done anything to her almost perfect figure.
44
Swami topped the ITDP course. This brought him instant fame and recognition within the group. He got noticed and recognised by the core retail bank committee of the bank and even the Group CEO. His success never went to his head, as he had come up the hard way in life.
NYB was growing rapidly in Asia and was constantly on the prowl for acquisitions. A cards business in Korea came up for grabs. Fresh out of the ITDP, Swami was deputed by Global HQ to close the deal.
Swami and Kalpana packed their bags and moved to Korea for a short-term assignment. Kalpana was given a leave of absence by the HR head. Swami's reputation as a top-notch professional had a lot to do with it.
Swami worked hard at closing the deal with the local NYB branch in Korea. He clinched the deal in a last minute manoeuvre, even though the competition was from large, established players in the market. He then led a team of people who worked on the effective integration of the two organisations. He focused his efforts on the people aspect. He knew that acquisitions often go wrong because the acquiring bank often ill treats the employees of the acquired organisation and fails to win their trust. This acquisition was a feather in Swami's cap. Everything went as per schedule. No surprises.
On successful completion of this acquisition, Swami was sent to help turn around the branch network in South Africa. Swami had a unique, solution-oriented way of approaching problems. The South African franchise was on the roll and making money in less than a year.
Swami then got back in Chicago and was assigned to Kailash Advani's team. This team was working on the consolidation of the bank's various businesses in South America. The South American business of NYB was highly fragmented. There was no common thread. None of their various businesses across the continent was of a significant scale. Kailash and Swami worked on the entire retail strategy for South America along with a team of retail bankers. They cut down the number of products from 189 to twenty-three and realigned the employees to these businesses. They shut down a few businesses. Some tough HR decisions were taken. People with low commitment were asked to leave. In the end, the entire business got a makeover and things started looking positive. The business now had an identity.
Swami worked with Kailash for about a year and half, and most of Kailash's success there could be attributed to Swami. No wonder, when Kailash moved to India as Head of Retail Banking, he asked Swami to join him. He knew that in the Indian market a person like Swami would be of great value.
Swami had politely turned him down at that time. He was very clear that he would not be linked to personalities. He would not want to be known as Kailash's man. While it helped in the short run, he thought that in the long run there were more negatives than positives. Kailash didn't push him.
Swami's career was on the upswing. The next five years were glorious years in his career. He and Kalpana had a wonderful life. He moved across various states of USA, setting up new businesses and fixing issues in existing ones. He was the key fixer for Chetan Bindra, another Indian who was at that time the Head of Retail for the whole of America.
The only thing he and Kalpana could have complained about was their still not having a baby. Sometimes Swami's eyes would grow moist at the thought. They did all they could—went through stress-busting classes, got themselves medically examined—but nothing worked. They reconciled themselves to the fact that god does not give everyone everything in life.
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Life often does weird things that leave one with little or no choice. One night Swami was driving back from work and got a call on his mobile. It was an international call. The caller ID on his phone didn't recognise the number, and so the number didn't come up on the screen.
Given the stickler for discipline that he was, he did not take calls from anyone while driving and so ignored the call. Within moments of the call having self-disconnected, his mobile started ringing again. This time again it was an international call. Again he didn't pick it up. The caller didn't call back.
He was listening to South Indian Carnatic music on his car stereo, when his mobile rang again. This time it was Kalpana. He intuitively realised that something was wrong. He pulled his car to a side and answered the phone.
'Swami, where are you?'
'I am on my way back. I will be home in five minutes. Why? What happened?'
'No, it's OK. Just wanted to check if I should lay out the table for dinner.' But she couldn't hide the shiver in her voice. Swami was beginning to get nervous.
'Kalpana,' he asked firmly, 'What is it?'
'Nothing, Swami. Come back quickly.' That's all she said and hung up.
Swami rushed home and found Kalpana waiting at the door for him. The moment she saw him, she hugged him and started weeping. 'What happened Kalpana? Tell me?' Swami was really worried now.
'Amma called. She was trying to reach you.'
'So it was her. The number didn't flash on the mobile screen and I was driving. I didn't pick it up. What happened? For god's sake, tell me quickly, Kalpana.'
'Ambujam's bus met with an accident on Old Mahabalipuram road. She is in the ICU at Apollo Hospital. Amma told me that her ribs have cracked and punctured her lungs. She is under observation for the next forty-eight hours. Doctors say that she is not out of danger yet. And...'
'And what Kalpana?'
'She has a skull fracture and is in coma.'
This made Swami very nervous.
'Amma is worried. She doesn't know what to do. She is all alone there.'
'Oh my God! What do we do now?' Swami was extremely upset that despite having everything in life he was not with his mother when she needed him most. Success is meaningless if you can't take care of your near and dear ones. And poor Ambu, the frail sister of Swami. How could she take all this? Poor thing couldn't even stand the prick of an injection.
He called his mother and spoke to her for over thirty minutes. Since his mother was in the hospital, he also got to speak to the doctor. The doctor was hopeful of Ambujam coming out of coma, but the conversation was not entirely reassuring.
He kept the phone down and looked at Kalpana. 'Let's pack our bags and leave. We'll take the first flight out to Chennai.'
He picked up the phone again and dialled a number.
'Hello.'
'Aditya, this is Swami.' When Swami kept the phone down fifteen minutes later, he had made all arrangements for someone to reach his mother to provide moral support till he landed back in India.
Forty-eight hours later Swami and Kalpana landed at the Kamraj International Airport in Chennai and headed straight to the Apollo hospital. Swami's mother hugged Kalpana and started weeping like a child. Kalpana consoled her, but she kept crying till the tears dried out.
Ambu was shifted out of the ICU into a private ward and after three weeks she was back at home. Though her movements were severely restricted, she was lucky to be alive. Doctors had said that it would be a good six months before she became completely normal.
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This episode had come as a wake up call for Swami. On their first night back in India, Kalpana and Swami had talked till the wee hours of the morning. Weird that the discussion should last six hours when they shared the same point of view. They had firmly made up their mind by the time they finally went to sleep.
Swami waited for two-and-a-half weeks after they had landed in Chennai for his mother and Ambu to settle down back at home. Once that objective was achieved, it was time to act on what he had decided with Kalpana.
Swami took an early morning flight to Mumbai. Within the next couple of hours, he was standing outside Kailash's office.
'Oh, what a surprise! Swami, it's great to see you in India.' Swami's sombre smile told him that all was not well.
'Come on in. How come you are in Mumbai? Are you on a holiday?'
; 'I need to move back to India.' This statement from Swami made Kailash sit up and take notice.
'Swami, I was under the impression that you did not want to come back.'
Swami narrated the entire story to Kailash, including the six-hour discussion between him and Kalpana on their first night back in India. He told him firmly but politely that if NYB was not able to accommodate him in India, he would be happy to quit and find another job here.
He repeated all this over the phone to his boss in New York. Kailash asked Swami to come back and see him the next day.
Swami stayed over with Aditya for the night. Both of them were meeting after a long time and had lots to catch up on. They had been in constant touch over the phone but hadn't seen each other in a while.
The next morning, Swami was ushered into Kailash's cabin. Kailash was waiting for him. He signalled to Swami and pointed to the sofa in one corner. 'Hold all calls,' he told his secretary as he joined Swami on the sofa.
'Swami, I spoke with Tony Lewis in New York this morning and I have his concurrence to offer you the position of Head Distribution for NYB in India. This job is at a Senior Vice President level. While I do not have the exact salary details, I can assure you that you will get a good package.'
Swami knew what it meant. He had worked long enough in NYB to know what Head Distribution meant.
'Thank you, Kailash. You have no idea how much this means to me. I don't even want to talk to you on salary and other details.'
'I have not finished yet.'
Swami didn't understand.
'I have also been authorised to tell you that Global HR has requested for Kalpana to be accommodated in the HR unit in India. They made this request when Tony and I got on to a conference with HR to clinch your request. I am happy to give her the task of setting up and running the Global Compliance Hotline in India.'
If God Was A Banker Page 11
