My schoolmate, a general manager (GM) in Uco Bank, retired in March. A series of farewell functions kept him busy during his last days in office, and even after retirement. Not every public sector banker is this lucky.
Take the case of S Aftab, who had retired as a GM of Union Bank of India a few years back. In his book, A Banker’s Musings: Trials and Triumphs, Aftab writes that he had started attending all farewell functions of general managers much before his retirement. At every such function, he visualised himself on the dais and his colleagues saying great things about him, often laced with exaggeration.
But his hopes were dashed when one GM and an executive director (ED) of the bank retired on the same day. Around noon, he got a call from the HR department to gather in the boardroom for the farewell of the GM. It was unusual – a cold farewell. The main function was held at the canteen for the ED, and the general managers were “given to understand that no one else should share the laurels with the ED”.
A GM’s retirement date coinciding with that of an ED or managing director (MD) was unfortunate. Aftab suggested to the HR department that the GM’s farewell could be arranged a day later so that the retiring GM did not feel dejected. But the HR department was in no mood to listen to him.
His own retirement date coincided with that of his chairman and management director (CMD). Once again, Aftab tried to convince the HR head, but “he was more loyal to the king than the king himself”. Aftab even took it up with the ED, but to no avail.
A depressed Aftab thought of boycotting the boardroom farewell, but other GMs convinced him to be there. In the boardroom, when it was his turn to speak, Aftab mentioned that “people are happy to share birthdays with great people but, in our bank, if you share a farewell day with the top people, your farewell is doomed.”
In his speech, he subtly mentioned the peculiar system in the bank where many people did not have empathy; they were often driven by herd mentality and could not muster the courage to leave the beaten path. “I feel our bank’s worst foible was it didn’t want to deviate from the past.”
We get many more glimpses into a PSU banker’s life in another recent book, From a Car Shed to the Corner Room & Beyond, by S Raman, former CMD of Canara Bank and a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. A fascinating autobiography, it’s a story of indomitable courage and hope.
Through anecdotes, this book outlines some of the ailments that have been plaguing the public sector banking industry. The abrupt end of Raman’s tenure in Jersey, his first overseas posting, illustrates this succinctly.
When he was doing well, “there was a sudden bolt from the blue in late March 1987,” calling him back to India. While he was happy to return, he couldn’t stomach the fact that he was given just about a week to wind up in Jersey. This was done to ensure that he would not get a right of permanent residence in the UK (he would have qualified for this had he stayed there beyond April 15).
His book says that every Indian officer in the UK had lived between eight and ten years, and all of them had a permanent right of abode. None of them ever returned to India. “The only one who had no interest in staying on for good was denied even the bare minimum time to wind up… An exception was made only in my case without any logic other than the whims of a few persons,” he writes.
Raman’s observation on the promotion exercise in a public sector bank is no less interesting. In one such case, where Raman was part of the interview committee, an officer of outstanding commitment appeared for the promotion. Unfortunately, he could not answer many of the questions because for the past few months he had been extremely busy handling the daily crisis at his branch. While others in the interview board told him bluntly that he could not be considered for a promotion, Raman held the candidate’s hand in empathy, realising what he was going through.
He is aware of “persons who have risen to the position of CMD, having never handled any leadership position in their lives!” His book also cites the case of one banker whose “only leadership position (before becoming the CMD) was as a manager of a small/medium sized branch, with an ‘unsatisfactory’ audit rating during his tenure.” This person, according to Raman, “perfected the art of walking in the shade”.
Raman is equally candid about the “unfair reality” of recruitment of specialist officers for law, statistics, information technology, marketing, et al, in higher grades. “It is a fact that specialist skills are required to run a successful banking business… Most of the time, they are recruited at pretty high levels in relation to the line officers… And suddenly, these specialist officers are given a chance to convert themselves into general category line officers, leapfrogging hundreds of officers who have slogged for 15-20 years!”
He also writes openly about the quality of board members in some of these banks. By and large, they are decent people, but “other than a few”, they are not able to contribute much. Coming down heavily on the process of appointment of non-executive directors in public sector banks, he goes to the extent of saying that some of them are “failed or aspiring politicians”. He gives tips on how to make such directors, “seeking to create a nuisance”, go silent.
The book also throws light on how investigative agencies hound the public sector bankers, leading to catastrophic consequences in their personal lives.
Raman was asked to appear at the CBI office at BKC, Mumbai, on April 23, 2018, for “answering certain questions relating to the case registered against Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamond Ltd”. Since the investigative agency had hardly any questions, Raman presumed that the CBI did not find anything improper as far as his role was concerned, and it would lead to a “smooth closure”.
Two months later (on June 28), there were TV reports of two former CMDs of Canara Bank being “booked” by the CBI. The next day, newspapers reported: “Two Canara Bank ex-CMDs charged in Winsome fraud”.
Such reports destroy a person’s image. Also, as a retired banker, with no substantial wealth, he could not engage a battery of lawyers to fight the system. There was also a lookout circular issued against him to stop him from going out of India.
Because of the lookout notice, Raman could not go to the US to visit his 34-year-old ailing son. In the absence of an adequate support system, his son flew down to Mumbai to undergo a surgery but could not be saved. That’s the price Raman, an honest public sector banker, ended up paying.
Raman’s book sums up the predicament of a PSU banker this way: “A good society takes care of the old and infirm… Unfortunately, in the case of PSBs, retired employees, especially if they had dealt with the crucial area of credit… would many times be in difficulty if some account became bad, irrespective of whether or not they had committed any wrong.”
“While in the army, people in field positions are respected and promoted, in the banking industry, many officers in the field mostly get injured, with a heavy penalty to pay all through their lives.”
It’s wonderful to see public sector banks in the pink of health. They will continue to do well if we learn from the experience of bankers like Raman, and address the critical issues that the veteran banker has raised in his autobiography.
This column first appeared in the Business Standard
The author writes Banker’s Trust every Monday in Business Standard.
Latest book Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking
Twitter: TamalBandyo
Website: https://bankerstrust.in
