14th July 2007 – The D-day of my life. The day when I had the honour to be with the Chairman and the Board of Directors and the Chief Executives of The South Indian Bank Ltd. It all started 2 months ago, with the announcement of the new cash incentive in the Bank.
Back home from the Executive Conference, at Thrissur, my Appa, Mr.John Thomas, the Kottayam AGM, briefed us on the scheme. Even though I did’nt listen much to it initially, the emphasis on increased productivity, and cost reduction caught my attention. The right decision at the right time. After hearing the whole scheme, I was marveled at the genius behind the whole plan. The whole business was divided into 9 core areas and sectional marks were allotted to each of them. The performance of the branch, region determined the marks for each section. The sum total of all these scores gave the total score for a single quarter. The marks from all four quarters, together with the management and inspection rating formed the total score out of 100. The monetary incentive is determined on the basis of this score.
Throughout May, I was at home on account of the University Hoildays. I am particularly interested in Mathematical equations for calculating the mark. But no special regard was given to it & I continued with my works. One day Appa came home with some branch data, comprising the March base figures and the quarterly targets and asked me to enter them into the computer. Having spent almost half of the month on games and reading, a chance to do a good turn to time was always welcome. That night itself, I sat about doing it and finished entering the data. I chose Microsoft Excel TM, as it already had a tabular layout for easy categorized entry.
The next day, I had resumed with my earlier routine, when a thought struck me out of nowhere. Why not create an application to calculate the marks & display it graphically? It would be very helpful, as the calculations are too cumbersome to be performed manually, that too repeatedly for each branch/region. I knew that the basic arithmetic operations can be done in Excel TM. Even though I had used Excel very rarely in the past, this did’nt deter me and a new Excel spreadsheet solution was born. It was a simple solution with three fields, one for the deposits, other for advances, and the third for profits. They were further divided into fields for entering the March base figures and the quarterly targets and the achieved amount and to display the marks. The marks were obtained by multiplying the ratio of achievement to the target with the maximum marks possible. (After this the wasteful ‘gaming session’ continued).
The day was coming to an end. After the daily prayer and while the dinner was being set, I showed Appa, the new application. Looks like he was quite impressed by its simplicity and easy use. He then told me about the 9 parameters and how the 20 marks were divided among the 9 divisions. At first all these GNPA, Non-Interest Income, CD, retail stuff sounded quite Greek to me, but with his explanation, I could slowly catch on. That night was all spend in modifying the application to incorporate the 9 sectors to calculate the final scoe.
The new application was all set and ready. But when some test data, were fed, some glitches emerged. Now these could not be rectified through the basic arithmetic operations. This saw me browsing through the Excel Help and learning new functions, most of them I was unaware of till that date. I also learned Visual Basic coding exclusively for this and incorporated those codes into the solution. Thus the simple and humble equations gave way to the ‘mega’ equations, stretching about three or four times, all with the new and complex functions. While doing this my Amma, was constantly by my side and inspring me. My brother George also did put his helping me in the process. As Appa started using it, the other glitches were discovered and rectified. Even though the whole task seemed insurmountab le to me, the faith and trust in the supreme God & His Guidance urged me to go ahead. The words from the Holy Scriptures regularly motivated me and instilled in me a confidence.
By June, my classes had started and I returned to my Hostel. One day Appa called me and conveyed ‘the news”. He had met the CGM, Valsan Sir, that day and while discussing about the new scheme, Appa had briefly mentioned about the new application. Valsan Sir became quite interested in this and suggested we demonstrate it at the IT division, so that the application can be inducted officially. (If it were not for Valsan Sir’s interest and initiative the application would have still been locked in Kottayam). As I had originally made it solely for my Appa’s use, it had some minor bugs. But for demonstrating it at the IT division, it had to be perfect. That Friday, I came home from Hostel, and set about modifying the formulae, codes and the layout. For the first time in my life I saw 3o’clock night. Next day we proceeded to IT Division Ernakulam.
At the IT Division, we gave a demonstration of the programme. Appa explained to them the banking aspect and procedures followed in this. The programme was tested and approved and was sent to Head Office for the final approval. From HO, after approval in the TMT, it was dispatched to all regions. Congratulations and wishes started pouring from every quarter. Appa used to say about all the calls he was receiving each day. The well wishes from all were a reward more than I ever dreamt of.
On the evening of 2nd July, Appa had to call Dr.Joseph Sir, for some business matters. Chairman told him that the programme was approved, and also they have decided to facilitate me in the next Board meeting on 10th July. This news came off as a big surprise to us. To be honoured at the Board Meeting of this great organization, can there be a greater honour! This was one of the times when we could feel the grace of God, being showered on us in abundance. Then came the D-day. On 14th we reached at HOand were invited to dine with the Chairman and the Board of Directors, ED and the GM’s. The Chairman offered me the apex seat in the dining table, the one he usually occupies, saying this is the ‘Year for Youth’, and the youth should be in the forefront of everything. To have these from one of the most dynamic leaders in the Indian banking Industry; man, that was something to relish. A great honour we never expected but God in his infinite mercy bestowed us with. I am especially happy to have made a contribution to our bank at this time, earmarked as the ‘Year for Youth’. My fellow youths, we all are a part of this SIB family. With our talents, and efforts, we can contribute a lot to our bank, our society, and our nation. It’s high time we arise, shine out and reach out into the world, for the present belongs to us.
After the dinner, the Chairman gifted me with a Gold coin, in the presence of Directors, ED and the GM’s. Even when I received the offer letter for my job at Siemens, I never had the joy, pride and gratitude, I felt at that moment. To be with the top executives, and talk to them, was a reward great enough. The warm and hearty welcome I received over there really touched me. Usually the image we have in our minds for top executives is that of a tight lipped, serious looking, suit clad people. But here, we have all of them, so joyful and interacting in a light environment; this experience really humbled me. The photo of the event is something, I would really treasure throughout my life. Everything just because of the grace of God, and blessings of my parents and relatives and prayers of the well wishers. Thanking you all very much....
