Economic Times has a profile of the man these investors are all betting on – Vishwavir Ahuja, Ratnakar’s MD & CEO Ratnakar Bank who was formerly the India country head of Bank of America. Extracts:
For the first
six months, Ahuja, 53, camped out in Kolhapur, travelling from Mumbai by
train and road to get there. He also faced resistance from staff who
viewed him as an outsider and feared job losses. Ahuja had a plan to
gain their trust. First, he guaranteed that no one would lose their jobs
and reversed the transfers of a few employees, bringing them closer
home. Others were appointed to oversee the corporate governance
structure. Applying the personal touch was important. “For six months I
stayed at Kolhapur. Every communication was personally communicated by
me to employees in a town hall. I refrained from just sending a mail,”
said Ahuja.He spruced up the head office building and set up a
regional processing centre in Kolhapur. He also made it a point to
expand the branch network in Kolhapur before entering new geographies.
All this earned him staff goodwill. “The idea was to start from where
you are strong. Our market share in our home market Kolhapur was only
4%. In the first few months we increased that to 10%. We did promotional
activities only in Kolhapur and tapped the business community and
temple business in the local market,” he said.
…He’s not without his critics, who say he’s merely touching up the
surface to make the bank look good for a potential investor. Ahuja
flares up at such a suggestion. “We have not dressed up the bank to go
anywhere,” he said. “We have done everything the hard way. We have not
come in to make money by selling. I have made a long-term institution.”
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