Murthy Veeraghanta: An Indian Origin Leaders Transforming The Global Fintech Landscape
Murthy Veeraghanta
Chairman & CEO
"It took a few key ingredients: a scrappy sales effort, creative internal cost-cutting, and finding our market by positioning our technology as a cost-effective solution for financial institutions' operations"
The story of VSoft is also the story of Murthy Veeraghanta, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of VSoft Corporation. Let’s wind back a little more than three decades. Post completing his Master's from IIT - Kanpur, Murthy moved to the US to pursue a career in Technology Consulting for Financial Institutions. After his first software consulting venture, Vector Consulting (founded in1990), he founded VSoft in 1996 based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Within a few years, he successfully established VSoft as a leading provider of Payments and Banking Software Solutions for Financial Institutions in the US. In 2004, Murthy returned to his homeland in 2004 and established VSoft Technologies in Hyderabad to cater to the Indian Market with world class quality.
Today, VSoft has planted its strong foot hold across the North and South America, Asia and Africa. With two offices in the country, its Indian operation serves more than 200 banks. The company's cutting-edge technology products include image based cheque and mandate processing, Core Banking Solutions(CBS), frontline digital banking, and financial inclusion products. Thanks to Murthy's stewardship, the company's clients include large Multi national banks, Public & Private Sector banks, and Cooperative banks. He is also well known for his passion for giving back to the community and achieving the Government of India's 'Digital India' vision. His brainchild 'Roots', a product designed for Rural Credit and Banking institutions to serve Indian farmers at a grassroots level, is a strong testament. CEO Insights is delighted to engage in an exclusive interview with Murthy.
What inspired you to venture into the BFSI domain and what drives you today?
During my Master's at IIT-Kanpur, I saw the advent of computers and business systems in every economic sector. In 1986, I accepted an opportunity in the US with Tata Burroughs to work on Banking Technology. Over the next five years, I started to see opportunities for technology to make the operations in banking more efficient and cost effective. Specifically, my partner and I identified a major opportunity to disrupt cheque processing. This
opportunity, over time, led to the inception and development of VSoft Corporation and placed us on the path to where we are today. As we continue to serve the BFSI domain, I am driven by my passion for finding new solutions to our clients' problems and maximizing their operational efficiency.
It’s been a long journey. Tell us about the major challenges you have encountered so far in your journey? What's your success mantra?
When the dot com bubble burst, VSoft was in its early stages. Not only did the markets collapse, but our prospective customer base also incurred massive losses, making our service offering a luxury to them. VSoft, however, managed to stay the course and continue growing profitably, even as our counterparts struggled. It took a few key ingredients: a scrappy sales effort, creative internal costcutting, and finding our market by positioning our technology as a cost-effective solution for Financial Institutions' Operations. The challenge was not one of a kind; we experienced similar external market pressure during the 2008 financial crisis and most recently over the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite our scale during those later periods, we took the opportunity to grow rather than stagnate due to the circumstances. We found market opportunities abroad when the US market was in trouble in 2008 when people were unable to leave their homes in 2020, we developed tools to allow financial institutions to serve them remotely. The lesson for me has clearly been where there is a will, there is always a way, and that has continued to serve me as I lead VSoft.
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an Individual and as an Industry Leader?
While I remember celebrating the financial milestones, like our first million dollars in revenue, my favorite milestones have always been VSoft's Product Go lives. Whenever a new client goes live on any of our platforms, it is an electric feeling to be leading the team as months of hard work comes to fruition. Sharing the team's feeling of accomplishment along with their pride in their work is the best part of my role, and I feel the most satisfaction celebrating each of these wins with my team, regardless of how many we've had.
Considering the growth of your organization over the past decades, which project do you feel as the largest project that you have accomplished so far in terms of scale? Also, how do you constantly implement the gained knowledge across your current operations?
Our first Core Banking System client in 2004, a bank in Virginia, US, was probably one of our largest undertakings given our scale at the time. Everyone in the Banking industry knows how complex deploy
The lesson for me has clearly been where there is a will, there is always a way, and that has continued to serve me as I lead VSoft
It’s been a long journey. Tell us about the major challenges you have encountered so far in your journey? What's your success mantra?
When the dot com bubble burst, VSoft was in its early stages. Not only did the markets collapse, but our prospective customer base also incurred massive losses, making our service offering a luxury to them. VSoft, however, managed to stay the course and continue growing profitably, even as our counterparts struggled. It took a few key ingredients: a scrappy sales effort, creative internal costcutting, and finding our market by positioning our technology as a cost-effective solution for Financial Institutions' Operations. The challenge was not one of a kind; we experienced similar external market pressure during the 2008 financial crisis and most recently over the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite our scale during those later periods, we took the opportunity to grow rather than stagnate due to the circumstances. We found market opportunities abroad when the US market was in trouble in 2008 when people were unable to leave their homes in 2020, we developed tools to allow financial institutions to serve them remotely. The lesson for me has clearly been where there is a will, there is always a way, and that has continued to serve me as I lead VSoft.
In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an Individual and as an Industry Leader?
While I remember celebrating the financial milestones, like our first million dollars in revenue, my favorite milestones have always been VSoft's Product Go lives. Whenever a new client goes live on any of our platforms, it is an electric feeling to be leading the team as months of hard work comes to fruition. Sharing the team's feeling of accomplishment along with their pride in their work is the best part of my role, and I feel the most satisfaction celebrating each of these wins with my team, regardless of how many we've had.
Considering the growth of your organization over the past decades, which project do you feel as the largest project that you have accomplished so far in terms of scale? Also, how do you constantly implement the gained knowledge across your current operations?
Our first Core Banking System client in 2004, a bank in Virginia, US, was probably one of our largest undertakings given our scale at the time. Everyone in the Banking industry knows how complex deploy
ing a CBS can be. Despite the size of our team, with a couple of years of hard work we achieved the unthinkable: we deployed the first commercially available, cloud ready CBS.
A few lessons learned through that process have changed the way VSoft operates, but there is one that has embedded itself as the core tenet of VSoft's culture: 'Teamwork as a Process'. VSoft's brand of teamwork came from that project and is the result of learning to trust each other: trust that we will always deliver for each other and trust that there is always help when you need it. The CBS project embedded the 'next man/woman up' philosophy in every level of our organization. ‘Next man up’ as a philosophy reflects the belief that the team is always more important than the individual, that you should step up before being called upon when you see that the team needs you to. As the next ones up, we have been asked to do things we've never done before and develop skills we've never imagined we would have as VSoft continues to grow nearly two decades after that project.
How do you keep up-to-date with the dynamic trends in the BFSI sector to steer your organization towards the future?
There is no substitute for staying up-to-date on not only current events but also emerging technologies & industry trends to maintain our product ecosystem's competitive advantage. In addition to reading about them in various trade publications, I also ask our clients what they are experiencing and what new types of problems they are seeing. Client feedback is critical as nobody knows what risks and regulatory impacts look like better than those who use VSoft's products.
What would be your advice to the budding leaders in the domain?
In business, as in life, find your passion and then set your own goals and success parameters. With that as a launching point, you(and only you) can determine your achievement of milestones in your career.
Murthy Veeraghanta, Chairman & CEO, VSoft Technologies
Murthy has over 35 years of experience in the Banking and Financial Services Technology industry and over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience. He has grown VSoft into an IDC FinTech ranked, CMMI Level 5 Certified FinTech Provider for over 1200 Global Financial institutions.
Hobbies:Running and Reading
Favorite Cuisine:South Indian
FavoriteBook: Mario Puzo's 'God father'
Favorite Destination:Walt Disney World, Orlando and Florida
Awards & Recognition:
•‘One of Asia's Most Promising Business Leaders’ by Economic Times at Asian Business Leaders Conclave 2021-22.
•‘VSoft's Jeb’ won a ‘Hackathon’ organized by NPCI in 2016 to commemorate the launch of UPI in India.
•VSoft's IRIS Omnichannel wins the ‘Best Innovative Product for Banks’ Award at the Maharashtra Cooperative Summit 2015.
•One among the ‘Top 10 Promising BFSI Software Solution Providers’ by Silicon india in 2013.
A few lessons learned through that process have changed the way VSoft operates, but there is one that has embedded itself as the core tenet of VSoft's culture: 'Teamwork as a Process'. VSoft's brand of teamwork came from that project and is the result of learning to trust each other: trust that we will always deliver for each other and trust that there is always help when you need it. The CBS project embedded the 'next man/woman up' philosophy in every level of our organization. ‘Next man up’ as a philosophy reflects the belief that the team is always more important than the individual, that you should step up before being called upon when you see that the team needs you to. As the next ones up, we have been asked to do things we've never done before and develop skills we've never imagined we would have as VSoft continues to grow nearly two decades after that project.
How do you keep up-to-date with the dynamic trends in the BFSI sector to steer your organization towards the future?
There is no substitute for staying up-to-date on not only current events but also emerging technologies & industry trends to maintain our product ecosystem's competitive advantage. In addition to reading about them in various trade publications, I also ask our clients what they are experiencing and what new types of problems they are seeing. Client feedback is critical as nobody knows what risks and regulatory impacts look like better than those who use VSoft's products.
What would be your advice to the budding leaders in the domain?
In business, as in life, find your passion and then set your own goals and success parameters. With that as a launching point, you(and only you) can determine your achievement of milestones in your career.
Murthy Veeraghanta, Chairman & CEO, VSoft Technologies
Murthy has over 35 years of experience in the Banking and Financial Services Technology industry and over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience. He has grown VSoft into an IDC FinTech ranked, CMMI Level 5 Certified FinTech Provider for over 1200 Global Financial institutions.
Hobbies:Running and Reading
Favorite Cuisine:South Indian
FavoriteBook: Mario Puzo's 'God father'
Favorite Destination:Walt Disney World, Orlando and Florida
Awards & Recognition:
•‘One of Asia's Most Promising Business Leaders’ by Economic Times at Asian Business Leaders Conclave 2021-22.
•‘VSoft's Jeb’ won a ‘Hackathon’ organized by NPCI in 2016 to commemorate the launch of UPI in India.
•VSoft's IRIS Omnichannel wins the ‘Best Innovative Product for Banks’ Award at the Maharashtra Cooperative Summit 2015.
•One among the ‘Top 10 Promising BFSI Software Solution Providers’ by Silicon india in 2013.