The Final Word

Dear Readers,

I would personally like to thank you for reading my blog. I urge you to read from the beginning so you don't get lost with the many acronyms I have used throughout the posts. I hope you enjoy the blog, and my attempts to share the wisdom and insights I have gained from this trip. The 40-page report is now complete and published. You can purchase a copy on the Amazon Kindle Store. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at IndiaMicrofinanceTrip2013@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

Anoop K Baliga

Day 35-38: Finishing Up the Internship

These last few days were relatively calm. Every day, Praneeta would have new edits for me, and I would go through them meticulously, trying to see what to change and what not to change. By Friday afternoon, the report was polished. However, it still needs the ultimate stamp of approval from Mr. Ghosh, the CEO of Ujjivan. He will spend the next week editing it, and will send me suggested edits and corrections via email. By this time next week, I hope to have a report ready to publish.

The last day of my internship turned out to be my longest one. After I had finished Praneeta's edits and spoken to Mr. Ghosh, I was supposed to receive my internship certificate. But Barnali, the internship coordinator, was sick for the day. With no other employee able to write and print the certificate, it took three hours before I managed to leave with the company acknowledging my work done there. This is a picture of my certificate.

Day 33 and 34: Polishing

I finished writing the report early on Friday morning. My project manager told me she would thoroughly edit it. She then gave the report to the COO of the company, who also went through it in great detail. Overall, they said the report was "fine," but they felt it was too blunt in the beginning. So my project manager and I spent all of Monday softening up the first 6-7 pages and ensuring it was more "report-friendly." Then, I had to go all over the place to make sure my information about each department was accurate. Physically, it was one of the most tiring days so far; I had to skip lunch, and I was worn out by the time I left at 4:30.

Day 32 Continued: HR Department

The one department whose employees I have not been able to interview is human resources. The department is busy with deadlines and illnesses, so the employees have not been able to sit down and talk to me. However, the HR manager was kind enough to talk to me over the phone after hours. I called him around 6:30, and we spoke for 20-25 minutes. He told me how HR helped reduce Ujjivan's expenses by re-purposing employees, and remodeling branches. He went into great detail about the different incentives Ujjivan implemented to make CRSs and other employees more effective at their jobs. This helped reduce the number of inefficient employees while also increasing the productivity of the remaining employees.

Day 30-32: Continuing Writing

After unsuccessfully trying to get an interview with the Human Resources department, I decided to finish writing up my report. I sent it to my project manager to edit which hopefully will be done soon. I am also trying to get the report published and I am working with the management team to make sure my report does not violate their policy. This picture is of the wall in front of Gangarams book store, a very popular bookstore in Bangalore owned by my father's high school friend.

Day 29: Service Quality

This morning I tied up the loose ends in my report. I made sure it had no errors and polished it. I then realized I needed to speak to Service Quality and Human Resources. So, in the afternoon, I spoke to the head of Service Quality, who talked about its beginning, why it was put into place, and how it is unique to Ujjivan. Service Quality is an entire department dedicated to customer satisfaction and grievances. Service Quality also has Customer Care Representatives (CCR) at almost every branch, and they help resolve any conflicts a client might have. If the client is unsatisfied with the CCR, they can call a toll-free number that connects them with the Help Desk in the Head Office. The Service Quality department is truly unique to Ujjivan, as many other MFIs seem not to care much about customer satisfaction. The picture below is of Indian Oil, by far the biggest gas company in India. In the picture, you can see one of the helpers who provides gas to people.

Day 26-28: Branch Writing

These last three days I have been putting my findings from the branch into writing. Next week I am planning to sit down with Human Resources as well as Service Quality to see what changes they have had to make. The report is now nearing 30 pages and I hope to add a few more. This is a photo of an auto rickshaw, it is an Indian version of a taxi.