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Financial wizards see big career growth in MFIs ……….Sangeetha Kandavel
CHENNAI: A number of financial executives across the country are now migrating to the microfinancing sector. Executives, who have moved into this segment, say that at a time when a number of industries were bleeding during the economic slowdown, the microfinance sector managed to increase its compensation by an average of 8.1% for its employees at the higher and lower end.
“Over the past two years, many financial executives have chosen microfinancing as their career option. Not only that, many of them have even started their own ventures across the country. A slew of employees from Citibank, HDFC and Cholamandalam have also migrated into this segment,” said Arjun Muralidharan, chief executive officer of Trichy-based Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance.
“With the sector turning mature year-on-year, there is a tremendous potential in this segment. A lot of IIM students are also opting for a career in microfinancing,” he added. Grama Vidiyal has an outstanding portfolio of around Rs 650 crore with around one million customers.
Mr Arjun, said one of his top executives was with the Shriram Group before he chose to enter the microfinancing segment. The executive, S Pattabiraman said, like any other sector the remuneration here is good. Since the segment is closely knitted, the growth opportunity is also phenomenal.
Ditto is the opinion of the top official of a leading Hyderabad-based microfinancing firm. He told ET financial executives, who have joined this sector, are able to manage and understand its operations well. “Micro financing is not just for social purpose. It can be a profitable venture too, if the model chosen proves to be successful,” he added.
To attract talent from financial sectors, the microfinancing institutions appear to spend more aggressively. Despite the global economic slowdown in 2008-09, the sector continued to post steady growth. At the lower end, the salary level varies between Rs 1.2 and 1.8 lakh per annum and some institutions pay 3.5 times more. The salaries at the higher end depends on the years of experience and the cadre. It also varies from institution to institution, said experts in this segment.
With the MFIs attracting substantial private equity funding and getting corporatised, the demand for management cadres is going up. The financial executives find it to be a lucrative career with some of them planning to go public. Equitas Micro Finance India MD, P N Vasudevan, said, “There is no hardcore data that substantiates the number of financial executives who are entering this segment. But the trend is happening particularly at the higher level.” Equitas has around 1,800 employees in its database spread across seven states.
Without divulging numbers, a top official of Asirvad Microfinance agreed that there are many executives who have migrated from the other parts of financial sector into this segment but one cannot accommodate too many as the expected salary levels are very high. “One cannot be hiring and offering high packages,” he said.
Even MFIN, the self regulatory organisation of 37 NBFC MFIs, that aims to work with regulators to promote microfinance to achieve larger financial inclusion has appointed Alok Prasad, a veteran banker, as its CEO.
“The microfinance sector as such is at its peak growth phase and it helps one touch the lives of many people. Not only that, this sector is an important market need, as it promotes and supports the growth of our country,” said Mr Alok Prasad.
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