DNA Jaipur 10th Anniversary: We have the capacity to write success stories, says Sanjay Agarwal

I believe that for the last 10 years our country has been the most happening place in the world! If we leave aside China and US, India has grown and transformed the fastest as compared to other economies of the world whether in relation to the social aspect, economic aspect or the aspect related to way of doing business!

Between 2008 to 2018 many start-ups augmented in the country, the flow of capital grew manifold and the way of life became more and more globalized. All this happened alongside a changing social and political scenario. What Flipkart was able to pull off, has been a pivotal moment for all of us in the country as it was a company which never made money, which was built around the India story - ended up being valued for around 30 billion dollars!

People like Birlas, Tatas and Ambanis have been in businesses for the last 30 to 40 years, but here were two gentlemen from IIT selling their company for 30 billon dollars without earning a penny before. Such fairy tale is unheard of in India and it is now happening in India! This is the silver lining we are all looking for where we realize our true potential.

On one side there are stories like Flipkart but on the other side there is a huge chunk of population which can hardly make ends meet. In the hinterlands of India lies unexplored possibilities and thus Financial Inclusion is bound to happen. For an economy to prosper its extremely important for the Financial Services to boom as they provide the needed capital and formalize the systems. The banks will play their due role in the creation of the wealth in India but there will also be some banks which may bite the dust. This happens across the world! If 5 or 7 banks go down, 12 or 13 banks become strong and play their part in the Financial Inclusion. We must get inspired by the story of how HDFC Bank has built itself and how other leading players like Kotak Bank are taking the country forward. Now, AU Bank is also contributing its share to the economic development of the Banking sector and of the nation.

We have experienced the transformation of the country over the years through our Business! Ten years back AU was a bunch of 100 people which has now become a strong team of over 11000 employees. We had a valuation of 300 crore rupees which has now expanded to Rs 20,000 crore rupees. All this was possible because of a changing economy and because of the fact that we tried to change ourselves with it! We challenged the status quo in the Banking and aligned ourselves with our Prime Minister’s novel mission of Less-Cash Economy. We are trying to change ourselves and transform and I believe what we achieved in the last 10 years, we can now achieve in 2 years.  

Coming to Rajasthan, the largest state by area, with rich cultural heritage and a large Business Community has lagged behind Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in terms of the Business-Orientation as not many business houses reside in Rajasthan. We have a lot of pluses such as good law and order situation, availability of labour, great transportation network, education alike the metro states, fantastic roads and infrastructure, flourishing tourism industry and all the best hotels! Despite all this, we haven’t been able to cash on the advantage of being close to the Capital city. What Pune is to Mumbai, Jaipur could have been to Delhi.

As Rajasthanis, we need to build on our positives, build good businesses, build good environment, build inspiring stories and take our state to the next level. It’s upon us if we want to take our time to deliver or fast-track our goals to compete with cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and others. The country is running fast and Rajasthan has some catching-up to do! Rajasthan being a low-income state is slow to pick up but I am sure we will catch up.

The inspirational stories which guide the younger generation are still missing in Rajasthan. I trust that the AU story will inspire businesses in Rajasthan for at least next 5 to 7 years. The spadework has been done, and I foresee people capitalizing on that. If we had also moved out like some of the old businesses of Rajasthan, we would have ended up benefitting other states. We didn’t want to do that and we decided to build our business here and inspire people to think beyond their comfort zone. It is upon us to resist and weaken or to adapt and progress as the next 10 years are going to be even more exciting for the country and for Rajasthan!

The author is MD & CEO, AU Bank