Mangaluru-born K V Kamath, the non-executive chairman of India’s largest private sector bank ICICI Bank, as well as the second-largest IT services company Infosys, was on Monday named the first president of the New Development Bank being set up by BRICS countries.
The $100-billion capital bank will be headquartered in Shanghai and is likely to start operating by the end of this year. The bank will give credit for infrastructure development in emerging economies.
Announcing the appointment of the 67-year-old Kamath, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said, “The appointment will be effective when he becomes free from his current assignments. It may take a couple of days.”
The BRICS bank is a partnership between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). It was announced in July last year that an Indian will be the first president of the bank for an initial five years, followed by a Brazilian and a Russian. The New Development Bank is expected to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies. It will supplement existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.
Began career at ICICI
Kamath, who graduated from NIT, Surathkal, and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, began his career at ICICI in 1971. ICICI or Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India was a joint venture between the Indian government and the World Bank then. In 1988, he moved to Asian Development Bank, only to return as the CEO of ICICI nine years later. ICICI was later merged into ICICI Bank, originally a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI. After taking leadership position in the combined entity, Kamath retired in 2009 and took up his present role as non-executive chairman.
Under his leadership, the ICICI Group transformed itself into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group that has leadership positions across banking, insurance and asset management in India.
==============================================================================
