• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Dinesh Narayanan

DEFTLY cast, irreverence can be a useful charm. And Mr Meleveetil Damodaran, the burly chief executive of IDBI and UTI, does it with aplomb.

"Every time I open my mouth, I seem to make enemies," Mr Damodaran says, adding, "Maybe I should talk less". It is perhaps his irreverence vis-à-vis sacred cows and the confidence to explore innovation that makes him good at trouble-shooting.

He is used to employing unconventional methods right from his student days. "I read a lot of biographies. I learnt economic history by reading biographies of those who shaped economic history rather than reading textbooks on economics."

Widely credited with saving the Unit Trust of India from nearly going bust, Mr Damodaran has earned the reputation of being one of the most dependable crisis managers in the world of finance. Before UTI, he had cleaned up the Chennai-based Indian Bank. He has emerged — to use a contemporary popular definition of reliability — as the Rahul Dravid of public sector finance.

He makes crisis management sound easy. "At the end of the day there are two ways to look at any organisation — either you can focus on its weaknesses until you go completely insane and give up hope. Or you can focus on its strengths and say maybe I can work on them and say lets see how you can work on them. Perhaps it is my incorrigible optimism... I do not see dark clouds. I see the silver lining and if you look hard enough you see that it is not just a line but also has width and, slowly, the clouds melt away," he says.

That is what Mr Damodaran, with no experience in fund management, did when he took charge of the lurching UTI. He identified the performers there and created an environment for their talents to bloom.

"I try to do as little work as possible. As Chief Executive, it is my job to see that other people do their jobs. I merely create the environment for them. Since they too get paid I would rather have them have the satisfaction in the job they do." The results of his style of management are well documented by now.

Better functional efficiency of the people in Mumbai was an added help. "The people in Mumbai at all levels are well organised. They pack more into their working day than people in many other places. They seem to know what is expected of them. Everybody seems to have a fairly good role-clarity in regard to where they belong in the organisation."

Mr Damodaran says that Mumbai represents the ability of India to cope with constraints.

Now he is helping IDBI shed its benign development institution skin and become a banking monster second only to State Bank of India.

He is building consensus for merging its subsidiary, IDBI Bank, with itself and then amalgamating with a large public sector bank.

The result will be a behemoth offering products ranging from simple savings deposits and personal loans to sophisticated corporate services and term loans.

Being the head of two of the most powerful financial institutions in the country is tough. How does he manage time?

That is one of the things he learnt in Mumbai. "It (Mumbai) is a great place to learn. By just looking around and seeing how people go about their work, in terms of organising one's time a little better. In Mumbai you tend to function at a higher level of efficiency." Mr Damodaran's grounding in law has helped him a lot in tackling problems.

"Law is a great subject. It teaches you to look at two sides of a problem and I think it should be made compulsory for all professions, including yours (journalism)," he says.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
`The face of stock broking has changed' — Mr Motilal Oswal, Chairman, Motilal Oswal Securities

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line