With my colleagues I share more closer a bonding than just co worker. I encourage utmost transparency and fairness for my team though it does not guarantee happiness for everyone in short run. I never hesitate to take help from my colleagues and take a lot of input from them. More importantly I can easily say sorry to a person for my ignorance and mistake.
1. Tell us about your story, background and journey so far.
I hail from a very small village called Nakdei from Subarnapur district (erstwhile Bolangir) of Odisha. The area was infamous for femininity and poverty. You would have heard about poverty in KBK (Kalahandi, Korapurt, and Bolangir) district of Odisha. I grew up in a beautiful tiny village which lacked in many basic amenities like education, health, electricity, transportation and communication. Even today there is no public transport reaches to my village and you will still struggle for assured mobile network.
My village had only a primary school where I studied upto class 5. School means only a room which accommodates all 5 classes. For class 6th and 7th (We called it ME School) we walked almost 3 KM within the paddy fields. I don’t remember wearing slipper till class 7 except summer. It was of no use either when you have to cross the fences of paddy field and jump across rain cuts during rainy season. For class 8th to 10th we had to reach to our high school which is 8 KM far from my village.
My classmates till class 7 came from very poor background and education or career was never a priority for them. The teachers till class 7 also never thought of serious teaching and they considered coming to school was their job and not teaching. I was fortunate to have my father Shri Purna Chandra Panda who was a teacher in my high school teaching Sanskrit. He helped me laying down my basic education foundation till class 7 and somehow I performed decently in my study under his guidance.
Apart from being son of a teacher we had good amount of agriculture land. We cultivated paddy and all sorts of vegetables sufficient for our family consumption. I enjoyed doing a bit of agriculture (at least watering the vegetable and paddy fields, thrashing and harvesting of paddy). I have fond memories of flying kite running across paddy fields after the harvesting was over.
My serious education started only after class 7th where I got an opportunity to study, compete, make friends. I picked up skills like debating, sports and acting. By the time I was 18th I became a champion athlete of my district. While I played cricket I was good at different sports like mid and long distance running, javelin through, shotput through. For 3 consecutive years I was the sportsman of they year in my college. I was also good at acting and was appreciated for my acting skill in my colleges.
While I was a mediocre in academics, good in sports and did well in my stage performances I had dream to join armed forces. Attempted all sorts of exams like CDS, Air traffic/fighter controller and others and failed in all attempts after clearing the written test for a few occasion. Having rejected by armed forces and no other options in hand I started preparing for various competitive exams. By that time my father was also retired and not able to support my competitive preparation. My elder brother Mr.Girish Panda (currently serving as an officer in SBI) not only supported me from all fronts, financially to encouraging.
I passed my post graduation in Zoology in 1997 and joined my 1st job in 2000 as a production supervisor in Asian Paints India Ltd it its Patancheru plant. I could not continue there for long and decided to pick something that appealed me that time was to service the under-privileged and financially excluded people at the bottom of the pyramid. Hence I joined BASIX in the year 2001 and that was the defining moment of my career. BASIX was an evolving organization and was known for its approach towards financial inclusion, livelihood promotion and building institution.
My serious education started only after class 7th where I got an opportunity to study, compete, make friends. I picked up skills like debating, sports and acting. By the time I was 18th I became a champion athlete of my district. While I played cricket I was good at different sports like mid and long distance running, javelin through, shotput through. For 3 consecutive years I was the sportsman of they year in my college. I was also good at acting and was appreciated for my acting skill in my colleges.
While I was a mediocre in academics, good in sports and did well in my stage performances I had dream to join armed forces. Attempted all sorts of exams like CDS, Air traffic/fighter controller and others and failed in all attempts after clearing the written test for a few occasion. Having rejected by armed forces and no other options in hand I started preparing for various competitive exams. By that time my father was also retired and not able to support my competitive preparation. My elder brother Mr.Girish Panda (currently serving as an officer in SBI) not only supported me from all fronts, financially to encouraging.
I passed my post graduation in Zoology in 1997 and joined my 1st job in 2000 as a production supervisor in Asian Paints India Ltd it its Patancheru plant. I could not continue there for long and decided to pick something that appealed me that time was to service the under-privileged and financially excluded people at the bottom of the pyramid. Hence I joined BASIX in the year 2001 and that was the defining moment of my career. BASIX was an evolving organization and was known for its approach towards financial inclusion, livelihood promotion and building institution.
Today the microfinance industry caters to over 5.6 crore unique customers and has an asset size of over Rs.2.5 lakh crore. There are Scheduled commercial banks, Small finance banks, NBFCs, NBFC MFIs, Not for profit entities all actively engaged in microfinancing as an important business line. While I chose this sector there were a handful while BASIX being the largest with only Rs.12 crore book. Shri Vijay Mahajan inspired me in my early part of career and helped me growing personally and professionally.
After a 5 years stint in BASIX growing from a Field executive to a Branch Manager, I decided to pursue my academic career and complete my MBA. All my peer group in BASIX were MBA from good B Schools and I was feeling bit low in confidence. Let me also confess that I felt really jealous when they kept sharing their glorious campus life. Before interacting with them I had I only heard of MBA education and did not know what exam to crack to get an admission.
After a 5 years stint in BASIX growing from a Field executive to a Branch Manager, I decided to pursue my academic career and complete my MBA. All my peer group in BASIX were MBA from good B Schools and I was feeling bit low in confidence. Let me also confess that I felt really jealous when they kept sharing their glorious campus life. Before interacting with them I had I only heard of MBA education and did not know what exam to crack to get an admission.
If you would have talked about CAT and MAT I would have thought you are talking about “billi” and “chatai”. But after joining BASIX I thought of doing my MBA one day. I was inspired by my boss Mr.Shubhankar Sengupta (an Alumnus from IRMA) who was my Area Manager while I was the Branch Manager. Following his footprint I decided to join IRMA though I qualified for other good B Schools like XLRI, XIMB and a few others.
After my education from IRMA in 2007 I joined Reliance group as a product manager in Rural and Microfinance business. By the time I passed out from IRMA Microfinance was growing leaps and bounds and attracted many entrepreneurs and talents. Reliance was planning to launch this business as part of the rural business hub (RBH) strategy. Somehow it did not pick up.
After my education from IRMA in 2007 I joined Reliance group as a product manager in Rural and Microfinance business. By the time I passed out from IRMA Microfinance was growing leaps and bounds and attracted many entrepreneurs and talents. Reliance was planning to launch this business as part of the rural business hub (RBH) strategy. Somehow it did not pick up.
I moved in my career and in 2008 I joined IFMR as the Chief Operating Officer of newly created vertical called Kshetriya Grameen Financial Service or KGFS. It was an unique and fun experience of setting up new business of rural finance in remotest part of Tanjavur, Pudduaru, and Kumbakonnam district of Tamilnadu. The name of the entity was Pudduaru KGFS and later I set up another KGFS in Southern Odisha called Dhanei KGFS. This helped me to understand the detailing required while setting up businesses.
In 2010 I joined Satin Creditcare Network Ltd an NBFC operating from New Delhi. I was part of the growth journey of Satin from 100 crore to 6000 crore. Handled sales and operations, internal audit and risk of the company in two different stints. It was fun growing faster with an CAGR of nearly 80% for 5 years. It was learning setting up business like business correspondence (financing in partnership with Banks on risk sharing basis) and establishing Taraashna Services Private Limited.
In 2010 I joined Satin Creditcare Network Ltd an NBFC operating from New Delhi. I was part of the growth journey of Satin from 100 crore to 6000 crore. Handled sales and operations, internal audit and risk of the company in two different stints. It was fun growing faster with an CAGR of nearly 80% for 5 years. It was learning setting up business like business correspondence (financing in partnership with Banks on risk sharing basis) and establishing Taraashna Services Private Limited.
I was overwhelmed to set up an unrelated business in the FMCG (dairy business) space and lunching highest quality dairy products in Delhi and NCR market under the name of Niryas Food product. Setting up plant, obtaining licenses, procuring plant and machineries, establishing procurement channels and setting up the sales and distribution network of dairy product was never an easy task. All it happened in an year time from conceptualizing to delivery of finished product in an unrelated field for which I was never an expert.
It will remain as a very fond memory for me. In 2015 Satin got listed and we were among one of the best performing entities in the stock market. I consider Mr.HP Singh (MD Satin Creditcare) as a father figure to me and Mr.Jugal Kataria (CFO Satin) as a life time mentor I can approach any time.
After a 7 years stint with Satin I joined Arohan Financial services in 2017 as head of business. As a team we grew up five times in less than 4 years, we increased outreach, we attracted investment, we experimented lunching various best suit products for rural market. We won many awards and accolades including the prestigious MFI of the year in 2019. The best part of my 4 years journey in Arohan is building a rock solid team. My team brought in unparalleled commitment, energy and inspired me to do better than the best.
Expecting a lot to do in my current assignment as business head of Tata Capital micro finance vertical. We have made a good beginning and ready to expand our footprint across India.
After a 7 years stint with Satin I joined Arohan Financial services in 2017 as head of business. As a team we grew up five times in less than 4 years, we increased outreach, we attracted investment, we experimented lunching various best suit products for rural market. We won many awards and accolades including the prestigious MFI of the year in 2019. The best part of my 4 years journey in Arohan is building a rock solid team. My team brought in unparalleled commitment, energy and inspired me to do better than the best.
Expecting a lot to do in my current assignment as business head of Tata Capital micro finance vertical. We have made a good beginning and ready to expand our footprint across India.
2. How did you approach your career & what led you to reach such a pinnacle?
I consider hard work has no alternative and I do not want to regret for not giving my 100% t. I believe human skill is more important than technical skill and if you can build a good team great performance will follow you. You really need to posses a big heart to forgive people for committing a mistake in pursuit of innovation and excellence.
I never blame my team for any failure/mistake and never hesitate to pass on my appreciation for their good work. With my colleagues I share more closer a bonding than just co worker. I encourage utmost transparency and fairness for my team though it does not guarantee happiness for everyone in short run. I never hesitate to take help from my colleagues and take a lot of input from them. More importantly I can easily say sorry to a person for my ignorance and mistake.
3. What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your career & how did you overcome that?
The greatest challenge of my career when I decided to pursue my management leaving my stable job from BASIX. I was doing well in job and was due for a promotion. I was married and my son Sashwat was just 1 year old. My wife Sarita was a house wife and without me earning every month it was difficult to feed baby food to my son.
3. What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your career & how did you overcome that?
The greatest challenge of my career when I decided to pursue my management leaving my stable job from BASIX. I was doing well in job and was due for a promotion. I was married and my son Sashwat was just 1 year old. My wife Sarita was a house wife and without me earning every month it was difficult to feed baby food to my son.
While I was in IRMA my second son Swyam was born. IRMA being a strict institution did not allow a break between 3rd to 5th term. I could not have afford my flight ticket for travelling to Odisha from Anand, Gujarat. Hence I saw my newly born son (Swyam) after a gap of9 months. I had to use every single penny of my education loan from SBI wisely. Not even an extra cup of tea outside. My father in-law Shri.Bhaskar Panda (a gentleman in true sense) not only encouraged me to take the challenge but supported me in managing my family expenses. I admit my gratitude to him.
4. What fundamental changes do you think are required in the fintech sector to enhance the adoption among masses?
The first challenge is the banking behaviour of people at last mile. The transactions at the last mile is still majorly in cash. However the behaviour has changed drastically after the 3 phases of Covid. Smart phone is reaching to the last mile and people are getting financially more literate. I am very hopeful that in next 2 years electronic and digital payment will be the preferred way to transact.
4. What fundamental changes do you think are required in the fintech sector to enhance the adoption among masses?
The first challenge is the banking behaviour of people at last mile. The transactions at the last mile is still majorly in cash. However the behaviour has changed drastically after the 3 phases of Covid. Smart phone is reaching to the last mile and people are getting financially more literate. I am very hopeful that in next 2 years electronic and digital payment will be the preferred way to transact.
The second challenge is the transaction processing eco-system in last mile is still an evolving one. Either it is costly or right infrastructure is a scarce resource. I am again very hopeful of emergence of the ecosystem in next couple of years. 3rd aspect is adoption of technology which really helps faster processing of transaction, cost efficient and improves productivity.
5. How important is it for lending institutions to consider a comprehensive view of a credit applicant’s financial profile?
It is of extremely high importance. It is important to chose right operating geography backed by scientific data considering socio-economic and cultural dimensions. Fortunately today we have pin code level data of every geography and take a broad estimation of estimated credit cost before taking a call on starting business using different proxies. It is prudent to consider family as one unit of credit rather than individual.
5. How important is it for lending institutions to consider a comprehensive view of a credit applicant’s financial profile?
It is of extremely high importance. It is important to chose right operating geography backed by scientific data considering socio-economic and cultural dimensions. Fortunately today we have pin code level data of every geography and take a broad estimation of estimated credit cost before taking a call on starting business using different proxies. It is prudent to consider family as one unit of credit rather than individual.
Various credit bureaus have a credit 360 product today where you can check the past track record of family members with the consent of the applicant. You may have differential pricing weighing the underlying risk of the product and asset class. Proper estimation of the assets and liabilities of the prospect will help you ensure long term portfolio performance. Authenticating KYC using technology is another area to be looked upon. We hope NBFC/Fintechs will be allowed to use e-KYC in near future.
6. How do you keep up with rapid changes happening in this sector & stay on top of the game?
Being future ready is one of the biggest leadership attribute today. With the advent of Fintech the financial services industry is going to be extremely competitive. Big data, AI, ML is going to help us making fast and efficient decision. Core financial services sector has to embrace technology in a big way and metamorphose to future ready fintech company. The faster we realize the better for us
7. Which is your favorite book and why?
I read a lot of books and reading is one of my hobby. Recently I read a book called The Everyday Hero Manifesto by Robin Sharma. I loved this book because it offers a full 360 degree view of healing body, mind, relationship, spirituality and work life balancing. I specially liked the concept where he spoke about mindset, heartset, health
set and soulset. How do we set our heart, health, body and soul would determine our happiness. It is all conscious effort than things accidentally happening. I love to read Bhagwat Gita which my father has translated into poetic Odia form (I cant read and understand Sanskrit slokas)
Brief Bio:
Born on 4th May 1975
Birthplace: Nakdei, Ulunda, Subarnapur (Odisha)
Qualification: Post graduate program in rural management, Anand (IRMA), Advance Strategic Management for leaders from IIM Lucknow
Family members: Sarita (wife), Sashwat (son), Swyam (son), Purnachandra (father), Shrimati Panda (mother)
Worked with Asian Paints, BASIX, IFMR, Satin Creditcare, Arohan Financials and Currently Tata Capital.
Expertise: Organization building, sales and business development, Audit and Risk Management
Current city of residence: Mumbai/Kolkata
Languages: Hindi, English, Odia, Bengali
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2 Comments
It's true picture of your life Sir, I have worked with you almost 11 year in my 16 years career of MFI. You are the best mentor in my life and always blessed with positive thoughts and energy. We have worked under your supervision with very open mind and a dedicated ownership. Thanks a lot you you for being a coach & idealistic leader in my life.
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