The quality of one’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavour, Viji Santhanam, chairman, Sundaram Finance, has said.

Stating this in his acceptance speech after  receiving the For the Sake of Honour Award presented to him by the Rotary Club of Madras in Chennai here yesterday, Santhanam  said that even during difficult times, his company stood by the customer.

‘Commitment to the customer stressing on the value of building a personal bond rather than treating the relationship as a transactional one had made us to realise our vision,’ he said.

The chairman of Sundaram Finance is also managing director of Brakes India Limited and has shared his 40 years of work experience in the two organisations. He said,’Knowing your customer is more important. It is always important to be accessible to employees.

Good communication and sensitivity towards people and environment, loyalty to institution has reflected in the level of enthusiasm and commitment shown by all people.’

Speaking about the importance of environmental consciousness, he said that 25 years ago, Brakes India had constructed a pond for harvesting water which had the capacity to hold millions of litres of water.

A lot of greenery was cultivated around the foundry to make the atmosphere conducive for employees. He appreciated the efforts taken by Ramanujam, managing director, Brakes India.

Santhanam advocated conservative and prudent financial practices and said that despite the financial meltdown his firm had not stopped lending. He said Sundaram Finance was started with a capital of Rs 50 lakh and it had now turned to Rs 500 crore.  

He said  the firm believed in organic growth rather than growing through acquisitions and would continue to support for school education and healthcare.

Santhanam serves as chairman of WORTH Trust too. WORTH Trust is an organisation that provides training to persons with disabilities, and also serves on the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and is a director at the IIT-M Research Park.

He is one of the trustee of Sundaram Medical Foundation, a non-profit trust set up in 1990
Commending Santhanam, district governor of Rotary Club of Madras A Subramanian said he (Viji Santhanam) was an inspiration to others. P S Govindachari, president, Hemanth Chordia, director- vocational service, Prasanna Shenoy, secretary of the Rotary Club of Madras, were also present on the occasion.