The Hindu Business Line : We are not an MBA - obsessed organisation: Khandelwal

Conversations with Mr Anil Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda, are always peppered with a number of interesting quotable quotes. Sample these: "I believe in tough love. We are tough on performance, and we love our employees." Or "My general managers are facing a pressure- cooker environment. Very rarely can you see us having tea leisurely." Or "Our motto is transforming with passion."

Without an introduction, you might be mistaken for thinking I was interviewing Jack Welch!

But Mr Anil Khandelwal has always been a people-focused manager.

He says, "30 per cent of my time goes in HR. If you don't devote time to an important function, you can never achieve anything. Two things are not delegatable for me. One is HR, and the other is customer service. Customer is both internal and external."

He adds, with a look of satisfaction writ large on his face, "Reach out to staff with trust, then everything can change for the better."

Excerpts from a recent interview in Chennai.

What is the job scene in Bank of Baroda? Are jobs growing?

We are very choosy with regard to recruitment these days. Gone are the days when we used to go in for vanilla recruitment — clerks, officers etc. — little knowing where they will be used.

This year, we are recruiting 300 specialists. A hundred of them will be chartered accountants and financial analysts — for corporate and mid-corporate credit. About 50 of them will be MBAs for marketing. Then economists, engineers for project finance. We have to groom people for new businesses we are entering into such as stock broking, wealth management, derivatives etc. They have the basic foundation and there will be further grooming.

On the HR side, we are thinking of lateral recruitment in senior levels — for treasury and business development functions. There is one function — marketing, which requires special emphasis. We are bankers, not marketers. We need business managers who can run around, meet clients, government, corporate etc and push for business. So, we are recruiting business managers in various State capitals and metros — mostly on a contract basis.

Your bank had already experimented with lateral recruitment a few years ago. How was the experience?

Frankly speaking, it was mixed. Some have continued, many have left. The specialists whom we recruit must also realise that no roles are waiting for them. It is for a futuristic function that we are recruiting them. There is no role- taking, only role-making. Many have to understand this. Mere educational qualification is not enough.

There is a new trend in industry — whether with young MBAs or lateral recruits — gain experience, improve market value and walk away. This is not only in BoB but also everywhere. There was a time we looked for lifetime employment. Today, if someone has stayed more than 10 years in a job, people look with suspicion, and ask what is wrong with this person. Compensation levels have gone up sharply in India and competition for talent has started now. The trend is unstoppable now. We have to learn our lessons from this trend.

So how do you propose to do that in your bank and bridge the gap?

We have been recruiting probationary officers. These are very good material. Instead of wasting them in humdrum banking jobs, we want to give them banking experience for 6 months to 1 year, and then extricate them from banking and grow them in specialisations.

These officers don't carry any attitude problems and they don't hop jobs like other groups. We are not an MBA - obsessed organisation. Very good talent exists at the post-graduates in many fields. Some of the best bankers today have M.Sc (Physics) or (Chemistry). I am a chemical engineer myself. Secondly, public sector banks (PSBs) with present compensation structure, find it difficult to entice an MBA who has a good market outside. We will be finding and promoting internal talent. We have gone to second-tier business schools — there is an amazing level of intelligence — it is difficult to cope with the speed of their thinking. The only thing is that after one year, they get an offer of Rs 8 lakh — they move and I can't stop them — even senior executives don't get that in PSBs.

You have started these retail loan factories and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. banking. How are they working?

We want to make retail a pleasurable experience. We have translated customer-centricity into action. We have 510 branches working in the 8 to 8 time period. We started 9 branches where human beings are working all 24 hours.

Why do you need to provide banking to people at such odd hours?

Who comes to the pharmacy in the night? A desperate person comes in an emergency. Who comes in the night, when the London metro is running? Keeping your shop open or running a late hour train shows customer care — that you care for that one person who may need the service at that hour.

Have your business volumes grown because of these measures?

Look at our performance. Within 18 months we have added Rs 60,000 crore of business. In the 97 years before, the bank added Rs 1,20,000 crore. In 18 months we have done half of that.

And I am still not happy with what we have achieved. We can do more. In 2002-03, or 2003-04, we showed very little credit growth — less than 2 per cent. See how things have changed. This year you watch out. See the dramatic turnaround.

We are dealing with those things that constrain doing business — internal bureaucracy, various layers, and now creating a more informal environment, using technology for decision-making and lot of internal changes, taking advice from specialists like McKinsey's.

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We are not an MBA - obsessed organisation: Khandelwal