Pages from the diary of a woman PSU banker

Last Friday, the banker offered me the pages from her 2023 diary, taking time out from Women's Day celebrations with her friends

Yet another Women’s Day passed by for 34-year-old Minu (name changed), a branch manager of a large public sector bank in Mumbai. She had put in her papers last month and her office had released her recently.

She had offered to pay to have the three-month notice period reduced.

The day she was released, she could go home early. But there was no early dinner. Her husband, also a banker, came home after 10 pm. Most of the days, they would compete on coming home late.

From this week, the scene could be different for them and Jia, their four-year-old daughter, with Minu joining a bank that offers flexible working hours.

She gave me these pages of her 2023 diary while she was celebrating Women’s Day last week with her friends.

There are footnotes to explain certain terms as I didn’t want to rewrite her story.

Sunday: Ooh la la! I could sleep till 8.30 am. In the past four weeks, I had to go to the office even on Sundays because of the impending annual internal audit of the branch. As the branch head, my job is to ensure compliance with all critical parameters before the audit. But transfer/resignation of a few has led to the pending work.

Today was my “me time”. I had booked a slot for self-grooming. I would go shopping with Jia, who thinks I am “the world’s worst mummy”. I would be with her all day.

As I was preparing breakfast, there was a call from my regional head. Our new executive director, on a visit to our zonal office on Monday, wished to meet some customers. I was instructed to shortlist some “happy” customers who could give good feedback to the ED.

What did I do? Junked the plan of visiting the beauty parlour. Also, couldn’t go to the mall with Jia to buy her a bicycle. I hit the laptop and started scrolling down the list of customers.

There was a follow-up call from the regional head on taking the ED to the customers. I was not prepared for that. My idea was to call the customers to our office.

It’s 1 pm now. The gong of the old wall clock hit me with an acute guilt feeling — I had promised to my mother-in-law to cook her favourite pomfret curry, Konkani style. Her other daughter-in-law, a schoolteacher, treats her so well whenever she goes to Pune. She would not leave a chance to taunt me, “It seems that you alone are running your bank.”

By evening, two customers confirmed their availability. Would the ED be able to meet both before catching the flight back? By 9 pm, the ED office approved the plan. Jia could just stare at her favourite Barbie gown in the wardrobe but not wear it.

Monday: Before I left home, a message beeped on my mobile: The bank has issued a circular directing the employees not to take any leave till March 31.

When I reached the branch at 9 am, I found a young lady sitting quietly outside my cabin. She had been deputed to our branch to assist in audit work. Inside my cabin, she burst into tears. Advaita completed her maternity leave recently and requested a posting at the regional office, which has a crèche facility. As there’s no position available there, she has to work in a branch.

A call from the zonal head broke the silence. The next few minutes were not so pleasant. Out of the blue, the zonal head said: “Madam, you are not doing anything; you are simply coming to the office and wasting time. I will transfer you soon.” I patiently heard him out. Such statements are not new.

Tuesday: The morning began with a meeting on compliance. The regional head instructed us to check all the loan accounts and submit a compliance certificate. The interest rate and charges must be levied correctly to ensure there’s no revenue leakage. My branch has 163 accounts. I would have to issue the compliance certificate by EoD. A meeting of the credit monitoring department followed this. The vertical head reviewed our performance and mandated that there should not be any slippages and that the branch should ensure recovery of all that is overdue.

It was already 4.30 pm but I could not complete all the tasks I’d planned for the day as my shoulder pain was rising. I booked an appointment with the doctor and informed the regional head. Before I could open my mouth, he started listing the “to-do tasks” — my branch did not login any business in the gold loan campaign period; the savings account opening rate had gone down; we sold only two PoS machines last month against a target of seven. “I want you to sell two home loan leads per week and sanction one MSME loan this month,” he continued.

I left the office by 6.30 pm but attended another review meeting at the orthopaedic’s clinic on Zoom, while waiting for my turn. There was a call around 8.30 pm from a colleague just after I reached home. He checked which serial I was watching before the business talk started!

Wednesday: It was the data management login day and the first day of internal audit. Advaita was on leave as her child was sick. We had already received five email reminders for data cleaning and update for 450 deposit accounts and 117 loan accounts. These needed to be completed within two working days. As all data was not available at the branch, we had to follow up with customers.

I received a call from Jia’s class teacher. She had vomited in the class… I rushed to her school and took her to the nearest hospital. Jia had severe food poisoning. Ma had gone to Pune for a week and my maid had been cooking food.

Couldn’t the school call my husband? In the evening, at home, while I was talking to the digital loan department about our performance and road maps for the pre-approved loan targets, I could see hubby’s glum face. He didn’t say anything but rekindled the guilt feeling in me. Jia would be on electrolyte water for 24 hours.

Thursday: The business figures of the branch could have been more encouraging; new business leads were taking time for conversion, and staff shortage is making meeting customers difficult. The disconnect with customers rises proportionately with the increase of review meetings by the management.

The pressure to improve the bottom line was renewed at a Zoom call with seniors. It was routine reiteration: There should be five new businesses from the top customers. The sales figures of insurance and mutual funds looked pathetic. I was reprimanded again.

Meanwhile, the auditor pointed out that regular inspection on several loan accounts was pending and needed to be completed for better scoring. I conducted a staff meeting and allotted the accounts due for inspection. The clerical staff were not happy with the assignment, but I had no time to interact with them as I had to rush to the regional office to attend a meeting on pending locker agreement renewals.

While I was about to leave my branch at 8.30 pm, I was given a list of control returns — monthly statements, reports — to be submitted by the next day. At home, holding Jia on his lap, hubby advised me to put in my papers as he could take care of our financial needs.

That was not new. Still, it was difficult to fall asleep. What would my identity be without this job? How long can this continue? Don’t I want to become a big banker? How will I fulfil my dream?

Friday: An unhappy customer spoiled my first cup of tea in the branch. Then I found the letter on my table — from the zonal office. It’s an explanation call for an account that turned into an NPA. I had processed it during my last stint at Nagpur. Within a week, I would have to reply.

I left for home early, skipped my dinner and hit the bed.

Saturday: I reached Jia’s school in time for the parent-teacher meeting. Her class teacher told me that her concentration level had been going down. After leaving the school, on my way home on the second Saturday of the month, I switched off my mobile.

The writer is an author and senior advisor to Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd 

His latest book is Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking
To read his previous columns, please log on to www.bankerstrust.in

X: @TamalBandyo