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 1st 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.
