Clipped from: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/grover-kotak-and-the-lopsided-approach/article64927144.ece
Corporate India’s moral policing needs introspection
Twitterati are a satisfied bunch. ‘Good for him’ is the reaction flooding the microblogging site in reaction to Ashneer Grover, co-founder and CEO of BharatPe, deciding to go on a voluntary leave of absence till March 31. A few weeks back, hell broke loose when a four-minute-long conversation between Grover and a relationship manager at Kotak Wealth Advisory Services was leaked on the internet.
The fintech boss was extremely irritated with his relationship manager for not being able to secure ₹500 crore of financing to participate in the initial public offering of FSN E-Commerce Ventures or Nykaa. The conversation was thoroughly unparliamentary, to the extent that Grover threatened to kill the relationship manager for the lapse.
As much as the entire episode is deplorable and should have never happened, is a personal conversation being blown out of proportion?
We need to bear in mind two things.
Bharatpe’s CEO Suhail Sameer says Grover will use this time for ‘personal reflection’.
But is it correct to penalise an employee for his personal acts and conduct? We are mixing personal traits with professional decisions — something that could come back to bite India Inc. Corporate India’s moral policing needs introspection especially given that among the younger employees, use of cuss words in a friendly or professional conversation is considered ‘cool and fashionable’. Such a practice is more common in startups. So, if BharatPe is reprimanding Grover for his unacceptable language, this must be a starting point for a change in culture — civil and cuss-free conversations among employees. If Grover’s incident can assure that, then good.
Otherwise, this should have stopped with the board insisting on a public apology from Grover to put things to rest peacefully.
The other thing that needs introspection is whether the moral high ground taken by Kotak Mahindra Bank to act against Grover’s language is appropriate. Interestingly, peers such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank followed suit and issued statements that they will not tolerate rude behaviour of their customers.
Certain sections of media are back to speculating whether the partnership with Centrum Group for Unity Small Finance Bank is intact. This is despite Jaspal Bindra, Centrum’s MD and CEO earlier rubbishing the rumours.
It’s good to know that employees of banks have the full support of their employer. But what about mis-selling, relationship managers not keeping up their promises made to customers and customers being taken for a ride?
Collection agents
Twitter is constantly buzzing with posts on how customers are ill-treated and harassed by collection agents of banks. The early phase of pandemic brought to light the misdemeanours of banks and their collection agents. The Reserve Bank of India has finally taken cognisance and is in the process of improving the banking ombudsman to give customers a worthy redressal platform.
But what are the banks doing on this front?
In most cases, banks justify the harassment of recovery agents saying that they are just doing their job. In other words, it’s fine for an employee to taunt the customer, but the other way around, banks have a problem. How is this justified? And what about miss-selling — an age-old problem highlighted repeatedly over years, but far from being resolved.
How often banks promise the lowest home loan rates based on credit scores but instead hand out a templated loan sanction letter. I encountered this and, interestingly, from the same bank which has stood by its relationship manager in the Grover case.
After being promised of a home loan at 6.5 per cent interest rate, vetting all the documents and giving an assurance that whatever required to move forward with the process is in place, a templated loan sanction letter at 6.75 per cent rate of interest and that too after five days of constantly following up the relationship manager was issued. Though there was an assurance that a revised letter will be issued in two days, it’s ten days past the deadline now.
Had it been a customer with the right connections in the bank, this may not have happened. But for the common man, we have to swallow it and move on. It’s at this point that Grover’s angst is understandable, though the choice of words is unpardonable.
Airlines, food delivery and insurance are also sectors where companies swear by customer satisfaction. But when a customer approaches the service provider for redressal, they are treated shabbily and the work is seldom done.
Kotak has decided to stand by its employee, just like Indigo when it deplaned a customer for using bad language on its crew member; but who will stand up for the customers? Media, BharatPe and banks are taking a lopsided stand in Grover’s case. But respect is a two-way street and it’s time that customers are treated like kings.
The writer is a freelance journalist Published on January 20, 2022COMMENTS
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