A zero accident policy is a very risky policy for India's growth, says Uday Kotak

"A zero accident policy is a very risky policy for India's desire and aim for high growth," Kotak said.

India has had a 'rough history' in the financial sector between 2010 and 2020, and the entire banking system and policy makers need to find ways to fix things quickly and move on, whenever things go wrong, Veteran banker Uday Kotak told audiences at the CII annual business summit on May 17 in New Delhi.

Follow the CII session on 'Financing Future Growth' here.

Uday Kotak added that the nation needs a proactive ability to create an environment to revolve problems in the banking system. He however maintains that this does not mean the nation should become risk averse. "Yes, we need to avoid accidents, but a zero accident policy is a very risky policy for India's desire and aim for high growth," Kotak said.

The Non-executive Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak lauded capital markets as "enormous engines to finance India's growth", acknowledging that India is fast becoming a "nation of investors" - a transformational change compared to a decade ago. This transformation, Kotak said is reflective in the mutual fund AUMs and rising SIP numbers that keep growing month on month. But this pursuit must go along with stability, he added, "we have to be clear that in our desire for a capital market model, we can not forgo stability."

Kotak began his address at the CII session citing how America has leveraged capital markets to fund growth. "The US is 26% of global GDP, and 65% of global market capitalisation. US is 2-1/2 times larger in terms of ownership of business v/s its own GDP," he said, underlining how capital market has evolved as an engine to finance growth.