Zero to One – My Journey of the last 14 years

August 25 was an important day in the life of any budding Company Secretary. And it was no different for me. 

August 25, 2007 – the day I cleared my CS professional exam. Subsequently on Feb 29, 2008, I received my membership number. I was a “Qualified Company Secretary”. It was the day and the feeling I will never forget. No professional can.

But then there is the qualification and there is life. 

When I interned at Anant Khamankar & Co., a CS firm in Mumbai, I worked on a variety of assignments from private companies to listed companies. What I witnessed there sparked an idea within me – to be a Practising Company Secretary myself. 

I worked hard at my training to learn as much as I could. Simultaneously, I completed my LL.B. in 2008. 

Now, as a freshly minted Company Secretary, I was ready to take on the opportunity of working as one. But was I ready to start practice? Not really. 

In 2010 I joined a financial services company as a Company Secretary and Compliance Officer. 

That place, knowingly or unknowingly set the scope and pace of what I can call a ‘career’. This one turned into a dream job. I single handedly managed the secretarial, compliance and legal affairs of the company. 

As I immersed myself into regulatory compliance related to financial services, including business aspects to ensure compliance with applicable laws, I was drawn deeper into SEBI related compliance and laws. 

It didn’t come easy. The laws were brand new and there were few practitioners around. (I can literally count myself as one of them :))

I enjoyed my work and life continued to chug along. I got married and in 2012, I became a mother. I felt on the moon. Everything was going well. I thought I could manage it all.   

And that’s where life threw its curve balls. Motherhood became a priority and I had to quit from a full time position in 2014 to become a part-time consultant (with constraints that during the engagement I could not work for other companies in the similar domain) . 

It was tough. I was on half the salary. For the first time I was wondering – What next?

Now, as every working woman thinks, I didn’t want to give away my career. I didn’t want my qualification and experience to go to waste. I wanted to raise my child and my career. That should not be too much to ask for in the 21st century. 

After weeks of mulling, my old flame reappeared – “why don’t I start my own practice.” There can be no better time.  

Brilliant! I immediately applied for the Certificate of Practice and got my number. 

As they say “it is easy to say but difficult to do” – there is a reason it exists. 

And it wasn’t easy. The initial years were very tough – is an understatement. There were so many times when I felt “I am never going to make it.” 

I didn’t have many clients to service. There were enquiries but most fizzled out. I was a newbie after all. And was not able to give much time to my practice too.  

I could tie-up with another professional, a CA. After all, everyone did it. But I wanted to do it differently and build an independent practice. 

I remembered what Anant Sir (with whom I did my training and a great influence) had told me – “Initial two years of any business is a struggle. But we should not stop making efforts and keep learning. The efforts never go unrewarded.” 

Yes. I will make the universe bend to my will and so I set myself, heads down. 

I started to write a blog. Now writing was not really my forte, but to be able to crystallise your ideas and be able to share them with a larger set of people was something that motivated me and bang, I had another baby – my blog. 😉

I used the experience I gained to write. And published my first article in 2015.

The only aim was to help people understand the SEBI regulations, to help people know how to make an application and help people know the compliance requirements

Unknowingly, I started creating a niche for myself, which it was, since there weren’t many professionals focused on SEBI regulations space. Much like me it was an upcoming one. 

As regulations evolved, more and more people started reading my blogs and I started getting more visitors, enquiries and clients. 

As my toddler grew, so did my practice. With the support of my family, handling personal and professional responsibilities together became manageable and I could give more time to my practice.  

The wordpress blog became a website with its own identity – www.cskruti.com. I was finally breaking into the circles of Investment Advisers and Research Analysts. 

I can’t help but wonder that I have published 102 articles so far with this being 103rd. 🙂

Besides working with clients on specific assignments, I have conducted educational webinars and seminars and represented cases before Whole-Time members of SEBI on behalf of my clients.

There is a proud feeling of what has been accomplished over the last 8 years. I am not wondering any more – What’s next?

But yes, I am just getting started. 

As they say, the sky’s the limit. And as I spread my wings, I am looking for people to join forces with me, who are willing to focus and work in this niche.

So, if you are someone who can share this dream.. wants to learn new things, grow professionally, set an example… then consider the door open.  

I am looking to hire a trainee and also a person with some experience of law or CS (new moms, most welcome) and interested in the financial services industry.

So, if you are interested in working with me and sharing responsibilities, please write to me at kruti@cskruti.com. 

Not just that, I am now ready to share my learnings in the SEBI compliance space with you. So, if you are someone who cannot join me but is working in areas related to SEBI compliance or planning to, I have some interesting content coming up to fast forward your path to progress. The content will be in a structured way. 

Click here to join in

Last but not the least, if my work has helped you in any way, please do share your kind words.