My 2021 - Satisfying and Engaging

 

The Year 2021 – Successes, Pitfalls, and work in progress

Personally, this was my Eightieth year that made me look at life as a journey. Prompted by good friends like Jaganmohan and Chowdary Prasad, I released my autobiography – Roots to Fruits: The Journey of a Development Banker as part 1 and Ripening Fruits as part 2. K. T. Rama Rao, Minister for Industries, IT, and Municipal Administration and Urban Development gave his precious time to release it on the net as a Kindle Book. Printed version was published by BS Publications, Hyderabad and is available on Amazon store.

On the Family Front:

My eldest grand-daughter, Akshita, working all along in Into IT, Canada, could move to the US and could see her chosen spouse in person, thanks to the abatement of the second Covid-19 wave. My second daughter, Swati, got appointment as Executive to a Member of Parliament, Canada. Her daughter Shriya got campus selection to METI in California requiring her to join in June 2022. Shanti, my third daughter, settled in a new house in Ottawa district of Canada. My three grandsons, Rohit Saiish, doing graduation in Economics in University of Waterloo, Canada, Milind, doing second year Computer Engineering and Gunit, joining computer engineering in University of Waterloo are all doing rapid strides in their fields of study. This is the pride of news for the year.

My last brother, Ramalinga Swamy, CPA, post-retirement joined Executive MBA with Rice University, US.

It has been  a shocking news that my brother Subbarao got cancer attack suddenly and has been helped by his daughter Aruna and son-in-law Kumar to face the challenge boldly. Since he is Yoga teacher, post operation, the cure is fast, and we hope he would see normal health ere long. My fifth brother, Srinivas Jagannath’s wife, Mahalaxmi had a bad osteoporosis and spondylitis in October 21. She is fortunately on good treatment and on road to recovery.

On the Office front

I took off from routine effective 1^st April 2021 while continuing as founding Director on the Board of Telangana Industrial Health Clinic Ltd. After five years of existence of the Company, it should re-envision for a future consistent with growth expectation. In the process, a new premises of its own has been identified along with Suresh Kumar, MD. Discussed with Zero code, for creating a mobile ap so that TIHCL could get easy access to Account Aggregator of the RBI. Prospect of co-lending with a resolute MSME focused Urban Cooperative Bank – Aditya Cooperative Bank, Jeedimetla that has nine branches with state-of-the-art technology and regulatory compliance. This would enhance the scope of functioning of TIHCL and look for a niche place in lending to micro and small manufacturing enterprises. The year 2022 is likely to see Aditya UCB to convert into a small finance bank. HR needed strengthening, for which purpose, management trainees from reputed B-Schools, and picking up internees in April-June, are in the process of selection.

At the request of Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, I joined them as Adviser, pro bono. 

Both I and my dearest spouse, Satyavati got both the doses of vaccine by mid-April 2021. We are preparing for the booster dose sooner than later. I got a heel pain on my left leg that took me to Kerala Ayurvedic Clinic at Secunderabad. The tough treatment is continuing. This has restricted my physical movement. The field visits I am used to have been hampered.

We started investing in our thirty-year old house for essential repairs, whitewashing and painting. This is work in progress.

Two YouTube interviews featured me: 1. Interview by M. Somasekhar on my autobiography and 2. Managing the risks of an Enterprise by Naveen Madisetty, Bisynet, Indian Council for Commerce and Industry.

Donation

I gave away my library of more than 500 volumes to two academic institutions – Avinash College of Commerce for women, Kukatpally and Siva Sivani Institute of Management. I was invited for a meeting with NAC accreditation Committee at Siva Sivani in December 2021. They got B+ grade. I visited a very impressive B-school, Institute of Management and Technology, Shamirpet on December 23, 2021, and interacted with its Director, Dr. Sri Harsha Reddy. Their interests in MSME sector were an attraction for me. They have set up an Incubation and innovation Centre.

Publications:

Twelve articles on MSMEs and Cooperatives have been published on LinkedIn, Academia.edu, and in leading dailies of Telangana – Telangana Today and Eenadu.

Research

Center for Economic and Social Studies in collaboration with TIHCL has bid for a study of sickness in MSMEs in India and happy to share that we were qualified in the technical bid. The result of financial bid is yet to be announced. If this project comes to us, it will be a feather in our cap. Except for brief personal illness, the year has been happy, satisfying and energetic.