Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

From Mattancherry to Manhattan

Sreedhar Menon, the little boy from Mattancherry, who became deputy president of the American Express Bank, shares with Priyadarsshini Sharma his views on several current issues

BIG DREAMS Sreedhar Menon followed his heart Photo: Vipinchandran

From the narrow, noisy lanes of Mattancherry to the swanky, high-powered financial capitals of the world, (Singapore, London, New York) it has been a chequered journey for Sreedhar Menon. As the son of a struggling low paid clerk he could not allow himself to dream beyond the city limits for dreams were luxuries not meant for the likes of boys, who played cricket with a borrowed ball, or for those who studied in the local Haji Essa, Haji Moosa school in the 1950s, "that was known for everything but studies." So When Mr. Menon retired as deputy president and member of the board of American Express Bank Ltd, New York, after the small beginnings in Kochi, life had come full circle. " When in school, American Express Bank was never the target. It was not on the horizon at all," said Mr. Menon on an annual visit to his home state.

Lapping up every bit of the Kochi sunshineand away from the biting cold of New Jersey where he lives, Mr. Menon reminisced his growing years in Kochi. "My father was an accountant with K. P. Govinda Menon and Sons for 33 years. He borrowed money for my studies. The most important driving factor in my life was my father. He didn't live long enough for me to pay him back. That's is my only regret."

And those were happy days, the days at the school and later at Maharaja's College. " I studied my primary and high school at the Haji School, which does not even exist today, at that site. In 1953 from a class of sixty who appeared for the high school exams only six made it. I was one of them. At that time my greatest ambition was to join the Customs as a Preventive officer. The uniform attracted me. My father coaxed me to learn Hindi as that was compulsory for a government job.

At Maharaja's

" After that the six years at Maharaja's College were the golden years of my life. My father and his brother helped me with the tuition fees and other expenses. Poetry was taught by Shantaram, Shakespeare by Madhukar Rao, Marar Sir on his wheelchair, it really was the best of times," recalls the alumnus nostalgically. " I even took part in a Kerala Student's Federation protest as they had introduced bus and boat fare for us, till then free for students. Now looking back I think it was a wrong thing to do as everyone must pay for a service rendered," says the finance man who believes that no service should come free or even subsidised. " In India a lot of budgetary problems are caused because the Government heavily subsidises things or even gives them free of cost to the public," says the astute banker.

After gaining a solid educational base with a Master's degree in economics from Kochi, Mr. Menon moved to Kolkata where a banking future lay in store.

He joined the Union Bank as a clerk for three years but he was eager for greater challenges. It was at that time that American Express Bank was opening its branch in the country. He applied for the job but received a reply in the negative. But soon things were to change. Within a month he was called for an interview. "I was interviewed by two Irish managers. They seemed suitably impressed and hired me for the post of an assistant manager at a salary of Rs. 475. My joys knew no bounds, as it was more than I had expected. It was the first time in the history of the Bank an Indian was promoted as Manager of the Branch in 1972. But soon I was eyeing my boss's chair." And eyeing the boss's chair, confides Mr. Menon, has been his mantra to rising up the ladder of his career.

" I always wanted my boss's chair. Not that I wanted him fired but for him to move up. I always targeted the next post. Maybe it was this that invariably saw me stepping into my boss's shoes wherever I worked. But I also feel it was the timing: to be at the right place at the right time."

And so he had a long and distinguished 33 years of banking life that took him to different parts of the world and finally managing an International Banking network that spread across 36 countries. " I resigned from this post as I had differences with my boss over strategies regarding expansion for the bank in Asia." Then he was MD of Lehman Brothers in their emerging markets department, after which he worked as a venture capitalist with RRE Ventures. He is now Chairman of Viteos Capital Market Services that provides complete knowledge based and administrative services to Hedge funds ashe is also in the process of setting up a two million dollars endowment, the income from which will provide for college education for the children of Shanti Bhavan School run by the George Abraham Foundation in the Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu. But this then is just one of Mr. Menon's philanthropic gestures. He earlier donated $600,000 of the $2 million needed for the Jagdish Bhagwati chair in Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. "The reason I did this is because I got subsidised education in India, paying Rs. 13 for my MA in College, whereas I pay $ 65,000 annually for my daughter's education, I wanted to give something back to India. The purpose was to give second and third generation Indians in the US gain knowledge on contemporary reforms, issues and challenges facing the country. I did not want to name the chair after my father or me but after the most deserving icon of economics, Jagdish Bhagwati. People in the US won't related to a chair named after my father, Mullur Velayudhan Menon or me too," says he modestly. .

Tourism, the answer

And Kerala, his origins?

" Kerala should concentrate on tourism and services. In industry it has missed the boat. The first IT park in the country was set up in Thiruvananthpuram but Bangalore and Hyderabad have forged ahead. But the only chance we have now is the spill over here due to the infrastructure bottlenecks in the neighbouring states. We should capitalise on that." As a Venture capitalist he says, " Well, India is finally on the international horizon. Venture capital is waiting for infrastructure development for townships in India." He aired his views on another national topic of discussion: " In my view there is no reason whatsoever for the Government of India to own Navratna companies. Sell them en bloc and reinvest the huge capital towards sustainable integrated development of villages through health, education and empowerment of women."

And this is what you get when a young boy from a small town grows into an International banker his one eye constantly tracking global markets but his finger remaining always on the pulse of his little town where he grew up.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail