On the last World Cities Day, October 31, 2023, Unesco picked a storied city in northern Kerala as India’s first City of Literature. (On the same day, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh became a City of Music.) So, Kozhikode was a natural choice for Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC to hold its financial education event for February, powered by THE WEEK.
There could not have been a better venue to start the day than the leafy campus of Providence Women’s College, founded in 1952. The three-member panel in the college was led by K.S. Rao, executive vice-president and head of investor education and distribution development, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd. The other panellists were Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, non-executive chairman, iFAST India Holdings Pte Ltd; and Sandeep Sundar, then regional head (Kerala), Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd.
At the campus event, Rao focused on Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC’s flagship programme for students―My First Paycheque. He stressed the need to save and invest, and to curb the craving for instant gratification. “Amazon and Flipkart have more festivals than regions and religions put together,” he said. “If you buy on offer, you save 50 per cent; if you don’t buy, you save 100 per cent.”
Rajesh and Shree Kumar Menon, THE WEEK’s resident chief general manager (Mumbai), also addressed the students. Rajesh, a gifted percussionist, closed by leading the students in a chair-thumping signature boom-boom-bah, boom-boom-bah beat that heralds Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. It was news to the silver-haired (ok, salt-and-pepper) in the crowd that the song which was released 47 years ago (1977) continues to have pull among the youth. The warm response from the students and the faculty―led by principal Dr Sister Jaseena Joseph―testified to the success of the event.
In the evening, the venue moved to the Hyson Heritage Hotel, and the panel was bolstered by the presence of Uthara Ramakrishnan, the popular Instagram finfluencer and founder of Artha Financial Services.
After Rao’s opening speech, the panel discussed various topics. Uthara spoke on the need for women to be in the know of a family’s financial affairs. “I credit my father for empowering me to reach this position,” she said. “I wish everyone had a father like that.” Among other things, Rao spoke on using mutual funds for pension planning and Sandeep spoke about the ease and options offered by mutual funds. Rajesh elaborated on the need to have wills in place, and to have guardianship documents ready if you have children who are minors.
A word about the audience that filled the hall before time. “If this is an indication of your discipline, financial freedom is a given,” Rao told the audience. An active audience meant that the panel had to wind up early to take questions from the crowd. And, as always, after the event was over and the snack bar was running low, much of the audience stayed back to pull panellists aside for a quiet word and general guidance.