Devil in Pinstripes is an interesting story about banking & NBFCs, well told by Mr.Ravi Subramaniam a career banker , his wife also happens to be a Biotechnologist as is in the story. It tells a tale of Hard work , Persistence and Intelligent work while rising to the top. Contrarily , It also tells a tale of politics & chamchagiri to stay in the limelight and rise to the top.
Amit belongs to a lower middle class family from Jamshedpur with dreams of an MNC job after passing out of IIMBangalore.True to his aspirations, he lands into a MNC bank (New York Bank).His interviewer becomes his Mentor and Guru.Amit blindly goes by his boss Aditya, whom he adores and admires and leaves his career path at his behest.
Amit rises up in the hierarchy , starting off as a Relationship manager, working in Mumbai central branch,
a coveted posting hand picked by Adithya. He gets married to Bio Technologist, Chanda; After the initial charm of matrimony wears off , she gets bored and feels her ambition of a career is wasted. Amit manages to find a job thru Adithya in NYB;later she moves into a sister company a NBFC(Non Banking Finance company)
The story gets interesting here. Mr. Gowri, one of the founder members of the NBFC doesn’t see eye to eye with NYB policies & code of conduct.Gowri runs the NBFC like his own fiefdom , develops his band of yes men & women. Does all the trick of the trade and indulges in Petty politics to show good figures and stay in the limelight.Ravi subramaniam washes a lot of dirty Linen of the MNC banks thru MrGowri and his cronies. Aditya dispatches Amit to make the NBFC fall in line with Global practices. Amit crosses swords c Gowri, faces resistance is harassed and humiliated often - so is Chanda, his wife.
The story plods on and heats up when a poor parking attendant commits suicide when he is unable to pay back the loan he has taken from the NBFC due to alleged harassment from collection agents , generating adverse media attention. Aditya & Amit step in and manage to salvage the situation.
Amit also gets arrested in the process.
The book shows that in The world of MNC banking, Somebody pays for Somebody’s fault in the process of fixing responsibilities.The book also shows that many people manage to survive and even rise higher in their careers by cooking up figures having a hierarchy of yes men down the line.
Overall an interesting read for the wealth of data on the operating style of banks & NBFCs.