Gear up for further Re appreciation - ICICI Bank CEO
19 Nov '07
3 min read
Mr K V Kamath, Vice-President—CII and MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, urged the Indian industry to be ready to face the challenge of further rupee appreciation.
While speaking at the 6 th Manufacturing Summit organized by Confederation of Indian Industry, Mr Kamath said that the rupee would appreciate by at least a rupee or two every year for the next three years. This would be one of the major challenges for industry.
Contrary to popular perception, availability of financial capital is no longer a challenge as industry is currently operating on a debt equity ratio of 25:75. However, the appreciation of the rupee is a factor that the industry would have to contend with, he said.
The other major challenge for industry is that of people and skills upgradation where Mr. Kamath highlighted that ICICI Bank itself required about 10,000 people per annum for the next 5 years.
Talking about economic growth, Mr Kamath said, competitiveness is the permanent factor driving the 10% growth, which is again determined by the growth of the financial services sector and the increase in demand in rural areas, among others.
Mr Ajay Shankar , Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, said that growth in services and capital goods had led Indian firms to become more cost effective and competitive.
He emphasized on the need for 'quality' to spread across industry and said that government would be more than willing to partner with industry to nurture quality, innovation and design. He also said that the skills development programme undertaken by industry should cover all ITIs.
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