hospitality sector. However, despite having opportunities in the hospitality space, she decided to join the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) on completing her graduation, in accordance with the wishes of her family.

While Lalita was working at IDBI, the organisation further branched out to form Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to cater to the specific needs of small and medium enterprises. Thus Lalita was given a choice – to work with SIDBI or IDBI. Lalita was enthused by the thought of working with small industries that needed financing the most and hence opted to work with SIDBI. At SIDBI, Lalita worked in Bangalore and Cochin where she could interact with many entrepreneurs. Hailing from a family that laid great emphasis on values, Lalita had always engaged in social service activities through the Sathya Sai movement. Lalita channeled her creativity to writing poems in English and Hindi and her writings were regularly featured in the organisation’s monthly magazine. While these activities provided her with a sense of contentment at a personal level, Lalita constantly strived to contribute professionally to social organizations. Thus she had three stints with the Promotion and Development wing at SIDBI. This wing was set-up to provide financial support to NGOs and other non-profit organizations through grants, for promotion of entrepreneurship, eg., organisations like RUDSETI , an institution that provides vocational training for India’s rural youth. When Lalita was at Cochin, she was introduced to microfinance through SIDBI’s Microcredit Dept., in which the General Manager at the Cochin office, Mr. A. Vikraman (now an Independent Director at Ujjivan), took a keen interest. Later, when the opportunity arose, Lalita worked with SFMC [SIDBI Foundation for Microcredit], a department dedicated to serving the needs of microcredit institutions and this experience helped her gain a through and deep understanding of microfinance, by way of appraising MFIs for loans and capacity building grants. In 2004, Lalita quit her position as AGM at SIDBI, after a 20-year stint at development banks, to spend time with her family, as well as use her knowledge and skills, by working from home.

This period was tough both for Lalita and her family as she reminisces her sister’s words , “Boondh jo Ban Gaye Moti”. When Lalita was concerned about the direction of her professional life, these words which mean ‘even a pearl has to go through the phase of being a water droplet, and not know the direction that life will take’, instilled in her a sense of confidence and optimism. Thus Lalita transitioned to being a consultant from a full time banking professional. The role of a consultant gave her the flexibility she needed to devote more time to her family and engage in social activities such as counseling. Lalita then worked with different NGOs such as the IGSSS (Indo Global Social Service Society) and was an advisor to microcredit institutions like Village Welfare Society, and helped design microfinance programs for fledgling organisations. When MicroSave, a microfinance consulting and training organisation came to India in 2005, Lalita enrolled for several trainings with MicroSave. Lalita firmly believed in investing time and money for updating skills and knowledge. Apart from authoring articles on microfinance and related topics, she also became a certified Loan Portfolio Auditor. During her time as a consultant she conducted trainings for Ujjivan in Loan Portfolio Audits, as well as other organisations.

As her personal circumstances changed, Lalita could afford to apportion more time to her professional pursuits. At this juncture Samit Ghosh invited Lalita to take up the position of Head of Audit at Ujjivan. Lalita was an admirer of Samit Ghosh’s style of functioning, his vision for Ujjivan and his 'down-to-earthness’ despite having held high positions in prestigious organisations and his receptivity to new ideas, and so decided to take up the role at Ujjivan. She is happy that she has been able to simplify and streamline policy and procedures at Ujjivan, and has helped the organisation imbibe industry best practices.

Lalita credits all her achievements so far, and especially her 'seva' activities, to the strong family support she has always received. Her parents have been highly supportive and participated in many a seva, like reader service to the blind, which inspired Lalita. Lalita's believes that she has inherited her writing skills from her mother, who was a writer.

She looks forward to contributing to society both personally and professionally as she balances professional rigour with artistic interests such as Indian classical music and dance, as well as social service in the Satya Sai organisation, and voluntary counseling in a psychiatrist's free clinic.