Every 4th borrower in Chennai is his customer

Chennai: From stenographer to founder of a `6,500-crore small finance bank, P N Vasudevan’s journey is a middle class Indian’s dream come true.
Vasudevan was born in Tindivanam, where his father was a teacher and mother a homemaker. He and his four brothers moved to Chennai when their father lost his job after anti-Hindi agitations broke out in the 1960s.His father got a Sanskrit teacher’s job at Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Madras. There, middle-schooler Vasu faced his first challenge -- shifting to an English medium school – and had to repeat sixth standard. "If English was a challenge, Hindi was a nightmare," he says.
He completed a BSc in physics and a BL degree from the Madras Law College. With no flair for physics, he followed the advice of his older brother (who was studying CA) and decided on the company secretary course. "Learning company law felt like my calling," he recalls.
He also learned typing and shorthand. "These skills gave me an edge in the early days of my career. My top speed was 120 words per minute," he says. His first job was as a stenographer, in 1984. His salary, `250 a month.
After a failed attempt, he cleared the ACS intermediary (level 2) exam in 1985, which was followed by a one-year management training course in Cholamandalam Finance. "Word spread about my typing and shorthand skills and every department head in the Chola Group wanted my help. Soon, I was in charge of recording the minutes of board meetings of the NBFC and learned to draft a resolution and preamble," says
Vasudevan.In 1987, Vasudevan passed the ACS exam ranked third all India. He was recruited as assistant company secretary by M Anandan, who headed Chola Finance back then. He became company secretary and legal manager in two years.
In 1991, Vasudevan headed the first-ever vehicle finance vertical of Chola Finance and led the business till 2005. He left Chola after it entered into a JV with DBS Singapore. He moved to Mumbai to join DCB Bank but quit and returned to Chennai in two years.
At that point he was 43 years old and did not have a job. In 2008, Vasudevan decided to enter the micro-lending business in Tamil Nadu. Within months, Equitas Micro Finance India was started with a corpus of `10 crore with three others, including his mentor and ex-boss Anandan. "I pledged my house in Anna Nagar to pool in my share of `2.5 crore," says Vasudevan.
Equitas faced its biggest challenge in 2010 when Andhra Pradesh banned all micro finance lending businesses because of the industry’s harsh collection practices. Nevertheless, in 2011, Equitas expanded into commercial vehicle and small finance lending segments. In 2016, it became a bank. Four years later, on November 2, 2020, the bank made its stock market debut.
Challenges remain. "Most borrowers are tea stall owners, who were heavily impacted during multiple lockdown," he says. "Our CASA growth is exceptional too, from opening 10,000 accounts a month to 1.5 lakh accounts post pandemic. And 90% are first time borrowers, reflecting our objective of financial inclusion."
In 2008, Equitas Trust was formed, which receives 5% of the bank’s net profit every quarter to spend on CSR programmes. The trust currently runs eight English-medium schools for children from low income households. A 100-bed hospital is being built at Selaiyur in Chennai. In his personal capacity, Vasudevan also runs a government-approved adoption centre "Varshini Illam Trust", named after his daughter, in Anna Nagar.