B20 India Summit: Uday Kotak pitches for sustainable development

In the session, Kotak also said that the government must provide loss bearing guarantees in addition to profit from business being channeled into energy transition.

There is a need to assess the risk of existential viability of planet Earth above business viability, said Uday Kotak MD and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

“We have to be clear that the risk of existential viability of planet earth has to be put a step above the business viability,” Kotak said at the session on Financing the Climate Transition at B20 Summit India.

Kotak also emphasized that amid the emphasis on transition financing, we must weigh the need for economic viability against existential viability, considering whether we have the time to wait for it to materialize.

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“We have certainly no choice but to go beyond capital which expects returns to capital which is willing to take the losses,” said Kotak.

In the session, Kotak also said that the government must provide loss-bearing guarantees in addition to profit from business being channeled into energy transition.

Earlier, Kotak on August 25 said that every company in the world should contribute 0.25 percent to sustainable development goals. “I recommend from India that we should also contribute the same to the global fund towards these goals,” Kotak said.