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Photo:H.Vibhu

Green message R. Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, presents the need to go in for sustainable energy

He has juggled his career and ‘green’ interests’ well. He is here as the messiah of the green brigade, as Doha Bank is propagating the green mantra, to conserve energy and to go in for renewable or alternative energy, to halt the ever looming climate change that is already upon us. Seetharaman, apart from being a very successful banker, is also a chartered accountant and has certificates in IT Systems and Corporate management. After his studies, the 23-year-old guy from Thanjavur who always did exceptionally well in studies, started his career in West Asia, but his heart is still here, in Thanjavur, to be precise, he insists. The memories of the original Cauvery and the receding one now egg him on in accomplishing his green projects.

The magician tag fits him to the extent that he has done the near-impossible in his career and now, he is doing a very off beat presentation to spread the green message.

He speaks on corporate responsibility in the matter of global warming on several platforms globally and found that it didn’t produce the desired effect. So he hit upon a novel idea, to do it in fancy dress. He dons a black robe, and with a cloth python and an alligator in his hands, he delivers the message (the magician look!).

“And it worked, people sat up at these seminars and took notice,” the top banker says. He is doing it in the same attire, today at a seminar at Le Meridien in the evening, where an invited audience will hear him. The python represents global warming and the alligator climate change.

“I feel that institutionalised support can go up to 10 per cent in combating global warming. And financing sustainable energy ventures is not charity, it is good business apart from being a corporate responsibility. It’s time the world took up renewable energy sources seriously and Doha Bank is into investments in that sector. Microfinance is coming up in a big way towards this end. Japan is promoting solar energy fervently and India also can do the same,” Seetharaman says.

A nagging doubt of any right thinking person would be this: How could Doha Bank, based in the Gulf region and sitting on a treasure trove of oil and natural gases be plumbing for renewable energy? How can that be in their interests? Qatar has the biggest liquefied natural gas conserves, by the way. And do these Gulf countries have any other resources other than oil?

“Well, natural resources are not going to last forever and the Gulf countries are aware of that. Sustainable energy like solar power, wind power is inevitable. So, they are diversifying into other areas. But that does not mean that oil producing countries will be the losers. They can invest the money got from oil in several ventures all over the world, and it will give returns, long after the oil deposits cease, if and when that time comes.”

Now you know why Doha Bank is spearheading the green campaign to propagate sustainable energy. The idea is to establish a billion dollar global fund for the purpose. It makes good business sense too, because such projects will bring in good money once they start rolling. So banking institutions should be happy to go the eco-nomics (ecology and economics) way to save the environment.

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