A household name in Kerala – turn anywhere and you see their board – the Muthoots have been expanding their presence all across India at great speed of late. Muthoot Pappachan Group (MPG) – the one with the ‘Believe in Blue’ branding and not to be confused with the red logo bearing The Muthoot Group – today has a network of 3,600 branches across the country with 20,000 employees.

Soft-spoken Thomas George Muthoot, or Georgie as he is fondly called, is core promoter of the group along with his two brothers Thomas John and Thomas Muthoot. He believes that being always open to change has helped MPG diversify and grow. From financial services to real estate and hospitality to alternate energy, it has expanded. Of course, the original catalyst for growth was the split in 1979 of the family business founded by Ninan Mathai Muthoot into three entities. A keen listener and adept at drawing out people and making them feel comfortable, here’s his take on:

Getting groomed for the family business

In our family the unwritten rule was that any kid returning from school for the holidays – we were all in boarding schools – could not sit at home but had to come to office. We were all given tasks according to our age. For instance, if you were in the fourth standard, you were given counterfoils of receipts and had to put seals on them. By the time you were in Class 10, you would be sitting behind the cash counter. All of us cousins worked in the office from a young age – the elder cousins teaching the younger ones.

The partitioning of the original family business

It was necessary as each family was growing bigger. The actual partition itself took all of five to ten minutes. My dad and two uncles sat around the table. Us cousins were spectators. In ten minutes it was settled. The existing business was divided into three. So if the balance sheet was hundred, each would get one third. The unique proposition was the way the new business was divided. It was decided that on Mondays and Tuesdays the senior-most uncle would do all transactions. Wednesday and Thursday, the business would be handled by the middle brother and Friday and Saturday the youngest. Monday and Tuesday if any new customer came in, it would go into the elder brother’s account, and so on. We were the first of the family to move out of Kozhencherry (the family’s ancestral town) and we started a branch in Thiruvananthapuram. Today, we have a healthy competition with our cousins but we also constantly speak to each other.

His management style

I am hands-on to an extent. I believe that we have to be always listening to the customer. We learnt this from our father who used to visit all the branches personally and talk to customers. We have seen that if you are tight-strapped to the seat and cabin without your ears out, you cannot run a business. If I meet someone, I like to get to know the person. Even my daughter points out that I ask a lot of questions!

Recruiting style and keeping employees engaged

You have to see our vision statement to understand our style. It is “to be the most trusted financial service provider, at the door step of the common man, satisfying him immediately with easy and simple products”. This was crafted with a lot of thought with every key employee involved. There is a bit of a social angle in our vision statement. Our target consumer is the common man – we lend sums as low as ₹12,000. Also we literally go to the doorstep. And because we are catering to the masses who may not be educated the product has to be simple. To cater to this kind of customer, who needs educating on our products, you need two things – passion and patience. And this is what we look for when we hire.

Normally the first thing employers ask potential candidates is how much experience they have. We don’t. We take freshers and train them. We have now literally become a training ground for NBFCs (non-banking financial companies).

Dealing with disruption

By God’s Grace we have always been very open to change. We are aware of disruptions. But if you keep your ear to the ground always you can deal with it. These days you get every information on your phone – good, bad, false... The next generation also constantly feeds us with what’s new and what’s happening.

The daily routine and  de-stressing from work

Prayers relax me. I go to church every single day. I get up at 5.30 a.m., go to church at 6, come back by 6.45 a.m., do my personal prayers, go to the gym and only then come to office.

comment COMMENT NOW