Finance St wizards stress ethics at Sathya Sai’s feet

What were Reserve Bank governor Duvvuri Subba Rao, his predecessor Y V Reddy, finance wizards Uday Kotak, K V Kamath, Kalpana Morparia, Aditya Puri, Gunit Chadha, Ajay Srinivasan, Meera Sanyal and a clutch of other Finance St honchos doing last weekend?

They were camping in Puttaparthi to take a lesson or two —- apart from blessings —- from godman Sathya Sai Baba during a conclave of the Sri Sathya Sai University on ethics in the world of finance.

The list of people, apart from the above, is literally a who’s who of the finance world:  Sreeram Iyer, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Mani Subramanian, CEO, Barclays Bank, Jagdish Capoor, chairman, HDFC Bank, K R Ramamurthy, chairman, ING Vysya Bank, A V Balasubramanian, CEO, Birla SunLife, Amitabh Chaturvedi, MD, Dhanlakshmi Bank, and Usha Narayanan, executive director, Sebi, V Vaidyan athan, CEO, ICICI Prudential and R Sridharan, MD, State Bank of India, apart from a host of public sector and central bankers.

It’s not known if all of them are Sai devotees. In an hour-long discourse to the bankers, Sathya Sai Baba used stories from the Mahabharata to drive home the ethics imperative,  alluding to how Yudhishtira lost his kingdom by gambling, and the magnanimity of Draupadi’s move to save Ashwathama’s life despite him killing the sons of Pandavas, etc.

In all, two dozen honchos from the financial and regulatory world, apart from academicians and economists attended the two-day event. Sathya Sai Baba also materialised a gold chain and gave it to ICICI Bank chairman Kamath, asking him to give it to his wife, who is said to be a devotee.

In his speech, Kamath attributed India’s rich spiritual and religious base, resting on the two pillars, truth and dharma as the reasons why it avoided the global financial crisis.

“My belief is that the core we have in terms of the teachings we have imbibed for ages that are continued to be taught to us by Bhagawan are the reasons why we have been able to withstand the challenges swept the whole world.” Kamath said.

Gunit Chaddha, CEO India of Deutsche Bank, in his speech said it is “truly an honour and privilege to submit myself before the Lotus Feet of Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai Baba”.

“I have visited Prasanthi Nilayam (abode of Baba) and Sai University many times over the last decade, and each time I have returned with even greater passion. But, today, standing here and having an opportunity to speak with the permission of Bhagawan is truly the most humbling experience of my life for the last forty eight years,” Chaddha said.

Those close to the affairs at Prasanthi Nilayam said there has been growing concern over the quality of affairs in the world of finance and Sathya Sai Baba has been stressing the
need for integrity in the world of business.

RBI governor Subba Rao said while there is an issue with ethical values in the financial world, it is a reflection of the society at large. “There is a need for a value system in the society at large,” he said.

Subba Rao said only people with an evil-minded can cause a financial scandal. “This is the time for all of us to make the rules of the game more stringent and practical,” he said.

His predecessor, Yaga Venugopal  Reddy was keen to draw a line between greed and need, saying trust is the most crucial component of the sector. “There is enough in this world to meet the needs of everyone, but not enough to meet the greed of even one person,” he said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi.