Page 284 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

83. Application of learning - Joining

a B-school

Joining a B- School as a faculty
I returned to India after a stint of 4 years due to some personal reasons
and decided to stay back in India. I had retired voluntarily from the Bank
and was getting a pension. I had returned to India thinking that things
have dramatically changed there. This was also the impression given by
everyone talking from India.

I was 51 year old by then. I had to have some economic engagement for
reasonable sustenance without dipping into my savings. I thought of
starting a consultancy service based on my long and varied exposure. I
had bought an office from a builder to work from but unfortunately later,
the authorities estimated 3 years' time to provide water, electricity and
other amenities to make it habitable.

I decided to apply to HDFC bank and ICICI bank to be their Direct Selling
Agent (DSA). In those days, they were giving attractive commission on
loan accounts and other deposits or DEMAT accounts procured through
the DSAs. Both activities could have generated sufficient revenue and
would have kept me adequately engaged.

I had got my daughter, a Software Engineer, married recently to a
Manager with IBM who was an MBA. They visited us and he happened
to glance at my CV prepared for the banks. We discussed the entire
situation and two options, one being a consultant and other being DSA.
He dissuaded me from consultancy work because the medium sized
companies targeted by me would not be good pay masters even for an
excellent work as goes in India. For big companies I cannot work unless

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