NDB to set its own standards; no rivalry with others: Kamath

Setting "ambitious targets" for himself as the first chief of USD 100-billion New Development Bank (NDB), eminent banker K V Kamath today said it will bring about a change in the way multilateral banks function but there is no question of any "rivalry" amongst them.
Kamath also said that the new bank, set up by India and four other members of the BRICS grouping, will strive to approve its first loan before end of the current fiscal.
Stating that funding requirements are huge at USD 1-2 trillion for each BRICS country, including India, Kamath said he sees other multilateral lending institutions such as IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) as "partners, not rivals" in working for growth of the developing world.

Kamath, 67, has been given a five-year term as the first President of NDB, which the five BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) had agreed to set up last year.
The bank, which will have its headquarters in Shanghai, held its Board of Governors meeting yesterday in Moscow and completed its ratification process.
The meeting was held a day before the seventh BRICS Summit that began here today. The Summit will be attended by heads of states of all the five BRICS nations, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the Summit, the leaders of the five BRICS countries will decide on the future course of action for the new bank.

The NDB is being touted as a major alternative to other multilateral institutions and its USD 100-billion Contingent Reserve will also help the member countries draw funds in times of short-term liquidity requirements.
"There are parallels with other multilateral institutions, but we will set our own standards at the New Development Bank," Kamath told PTI in an interview.
Asked how much the new bank would be able to contribute to the funding requirement of India where infrastructure investment itself was pegged at over USD 1 trillion, Kamath said, "The requirements of India and the other developing countries are so large."

"It will require a lot of cooperation and collaboration with other partners. These partners could be Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other multilateral institutions," said Kamath under whose leadership top private sector lender ICICI Bank transformed banking industry in India.