Ketan Parekh

At 41, Ketan Parekh heads the IT team at Sharekhan, and also manages to set aside an hour every day to chat with his wife.
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But then, there are exceptions and Parekh is one.After finishing schooling at Little Angels High School, Mumbai in 1980, where Maths was his favourite subject, Parekh "went on to study financial accounting" at SIES College, Mumbai.He graduated in 1985.After finishing education, Parekh had a lot of options; one of which was to join his father's gold and silver business.But he did not consider himself fit for his father's business because of his educational background and also for the fact that the organisation was "too small."Thereafter, Parekh went on to study technology.In 1997, he studied ERP and its implementations at Oracle Corporation and in 2000 he did an e-business course (distant learning) from Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP).

The 'first job'

Meanwhile, in 1990 Parekh crossed the 'first job' milestone.He started working with a financial services firm then known as Money Care."It's now called Saurashtra Capital Services," he reminisces.Parekh was happy to get a job in the field that he had studied in. After seven years with the firm, he had gained knowledge not just about the business, but also about the processes pertaining to the firm.

And it was "at Money Care itself" that Parekh had his first brush with IT.He had a lot of options at this company and he chose to work on user implementation, which led him on to IT.

That was also the time when he developed interest in ERP.
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Two years later when Novell acquired CTP and the Indian operations were split into Bangalore and Mumbai-Delhi, Parekh was with Novell Mumbai for around 10 months where he got numerous awards for excellence.

Sharekhan beckoned him in 2003 and he has been there since then."After the BSE project, I find this the most challenging," says the CTO about his current job.He reasons this out by saying that earlier he had been on the end-user's side and the consulting side but now attempting to understand the business user's side in detail."You've to keep accepting challenges and if I decide to do something, it's done," he explains.

Today and tomorrow

"I am multi-tasking at work right now," says Parekh as he explains how he is working on a business model for collaboration with banks.He also talks of the BCP and DR projects that he has been working on.He adds that the most important thing he is doing right now is focussing on cost reduction for Sharekhan.

He doesn't have any fixed plans for the future, but says, "I would like to ensure that my business value is of help to any organisation I work for."
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Parekh believes in "chilling out" to bust the stress.In leisure, he loves to sleep, be with his family and watch TV all day long."When I'm not at work, I basically like to do nothing."Here he pauses for a moment, thinks and corrects himself.
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Parekh insists that his father was his biggest mentor."I seem to have inherited his business and negotiation skills."He puts his wife next on the list for all the support that she has given him.
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Parekh says that he is religious and just like he finds time for his wife and daughter every day, he also finds time to pray to God."Till recently, I used to walk from Sion (where he stays) to Siddhivinayak temple."

About superstitions, he has a monosyllabic negative answer.

According to Parekh, the biggest turnaround moment in his life was when he got married.This, he says, made him realise his responsibilities.

Much to learn

When asked to rate himself as a CTO on a 1 to 10 scale, Parekh came up with "one" after a few moments of thought."There is a lot left to learn and anything above one would be an exaggeration."While he may rate himself the lowest on the CTO scale, he definitely ranks highest on the modesty scale.

Parekh says that he is not thinking of retirement as of now because there is a lot to learn.