Ajit Kothari, Proprietor, Kothari Ajit & Company, recently joined NewsX for an insightful chat as part of NewsX India A-List. In the exclusive conversation, he spoke in detail about his work in the field of finance, fundraising and much more.
Speaking about his association with the field of finance, Ajit Kothari said, “When I was doing chartered accountancy, I had seen people fiddle around for finance. They were not getting the right kind of guidance from the people in finance because generally, chartered accountants do auditing and taxation. There are no people, who can guide them on how to raise money at the optimum cost, without hurdle and do the problem of selecting finance fee. In this journey, we have had many people. Approximately, we’re raised 20,000 crores for the mid-size corporate people to fund their business and to fund their ventures.”
When asked why did he decide to be in the fundraising, he responded, “MSME units can’t afford to have the finance team on their payroll, that is the biggest hurdle for the MSME unit. Their set up is small. They can’t have that much revenue, so they can’t be people who can raise money. That is the main reason to be in the MSME segment to help them. We work with them as a mentor to them and we guide them to raise money at the optimum cost and the right mix of the equity. They should never come in the debt trap. We are there in the time of adversity to hand-hold. Suppose, they get bigger order also, then the bridge finance has to be arranged. They can’t create that in their own office, that is the main reason.”
Talking about our education system and what is the biggest change he would like to see happen today, Ajit Kothari stated, “If you see the education system, people do BCom, people pass BSE, but nothing related to your life. They don’t teach you how to earn in your life. That education is no way helping you out in your life earning. You are only carrying a degree. Or, you go for a specialisation in something, then only you can understand. See, suppose we are into finance. I am a chartered accountant but up to BCom, we don’t know anything about how to earn for our life, run our life smoothly, to live the life after retirement, what kind of planning is needed. Nothing short of practical things is taught in our education system. We are just creating batches. That has to be changed and practical guidelines to be introduced that they can earn or they can sustain after 55 years of their age, when they reach a retirement table, how to manage their lives. That is the expectation from the education system.”
Giving us an insight into his background and the challenges he faced along the way, he shared, “I come from a very middle family. My father was doing service. We din’t have that big money. I did my schooling and graduation from Gujarati medium. After the joining CA , it suddenly became English medium, but that I could manage. A real challenge came in the year 2014, when somebody flee away. I had to be under the debt of Rs 20 crores because Chartered accountants are only available in the field. One person escaped and flee away, the promoters flee away from India. Nobody was there. Only chartered accountant can be catch-hold because our data are publicly available. I had to travel around the police stations, just answering the queries. I came to literally having no penny but the knowledge with which we helped the people, raising finance that came to my rescue. The way again, I can bounce back. Today, I am on the path of growth and helping people.”