KV Kamath relives his triumph,'08 crisis; bets big on India

121018 Investors following ICICI Bank. Share this News with them.

0

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

KV Kamath relives his triumph,'08 crisis; bets big on India

India’s most famous banker, KV Kamath, the Non-executive Chairman of ICICI Bank, a man many would call the father of Indian retail banking, gets candid on his journey so far.

Post your opinion here

 

0

Tweet

Share on Tumblr

RELATED NEWS India, the next 10 years: Where will growth come from? FM is a 'smart CFO': Chanda Kocchar ALSO READ See latest News about ICICI Bank See previous management interviews See what other Experts & Brokerages are saying about ICICI Bank ICICI Bank BSE | NSE 31/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on ICICI Bank?

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, famous banker and non-executive Chairman of ICICI Bank KV Kamath spills the beans on his journey in making the bank a retail power house.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with KV Kamath on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: You left IIM Ahmedabad in 1971 you joined ICICI as it was called then, not a bank yet. Then you went on deputation to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1988 and you came back in 1996 as CEO and MD of the company and you transformed this bank into a retail power house. All your early experience was with project banking, so where does this thinking of retail come from?

A: It is very interesting. When I came back I had not prepared myself for a change in ICICI character as I went along. I came back wanting to grow the development banking business. But very soon I realized the challenge the development was facing that only got heightened with what happened to Indian business post 1997 onwards and right through 2002. So at that point of time we started thinking how do we change the character of this institution because otherwise we could face a huge challenge in the coming years. At that point of time what struck me was what I had seen across Asia. That is as per capita incomes went from USD 500 to USD 1000 that is all I had seen then, something revolutionary happened. People's aspirations changed. You wanted a home, you could afford a home, you wanted a car, you could afford a car, ofcourse leveraged with debt. I said can we not prepare for that tomorrow? I think that is when the whole thought process started.