Would like some animal spirit in Indian entrepreneurs: Kotak
Kotak Mahindra Bank MD Uday Kotak has said he would like to see a little bit of "animal spirit" in Indian businesses and entrepreneurs to come back. He further said that a nudge from the government, to see growth, would certainly be welcome. This would also help many from the startup ecosystem in moving to mainstream business arena, he added.
From Barun Jha Davos, Jan 22 (PTI) Confident of India gaining its "rightful place" in coming years on the world stage alongside the US and China, ace banker Uday Kotak has said Indian corporates also need to combine some "animal spirit" with their judicious capital allocation for their own business growth and add to the economys expansion. The Kotak group chief, who has steered one of the most successful banking and financial services sector stories in recent years in India, also favoured nudge from the government and policymakers to the corporates to get that "animal spirit" and said the country should also incentivise delta jobs created in any country. Kotak, who was here to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting that saw China positioning itself as a new champion of globalisation, told PTI in an interview that India has to take its rightful place over the next 5-10 years and the institutions like his will have to contribute to that journey. On Indian corporates in the past having started to look overseas for expansion through acquisitions, but the process stopping thereafter, Kotak said, "That also probably because of the reason that they did not necessarily take the best capital decisions and probably our timing was wrong." Asked whether India Inc has learnt its lessons, he said, "I think, it has. The private sector has become more careful and more sort of thoughtful and therefore, we are seeing a slowdown in investments -- both in terms of external investments as well as within India. "To a certain extent, we need to get the balance right between judicious capital allocation with a little bit of animal spirit. At this stage, what I would like to see in India is that a little bit of animal spirit in business and entrepreneurs came back. "A nudge from the government and policymakers that we would love to see growth in businesses and entrepreneurship would certainly be helpful and welcome." He agreed this would also help many from the start-up ecosystem move to the mainstream business arena. Kotak further said this balance between judicious capital allocation and animal spirit would need to be a high focus area as the jobs would finally happen only through successful business growth. Optimistic about job creation, going ahead, Kotak said, "I am a great believer that India should incentivise delta jobs created in any sector." Asked whether more acquisitions are in store for Kotak group itself, he said, "We are still a small company in global scheme of things. 