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1. In equities, you price the risk. As far as debt is concerned, if the markets get more sophisticated where, for the levels of risks that you take, you get the debt returns, we will certainly look at it. It’s back to a philosophy of risk-adjusted returns.
2. I grew up in a joint family of 60 people with one kitchen. So I am a firm believer in the family concept.
3. I was not very keen on joining the family business… there were 14 family members working together, and it worried me that I would not have enough individuality.
4. I am a believer in the journey and enjoying the journey.
5. Kotak Mahindra Bank has very significant presence in the West and the North, and our total branch network between these two regions is 80 per cent, and in case of ING Vysya Bank, their network in South is 64 per cent of their total branch network.
6. Foreign investors are looking for a consistent and stable policy in India.
7. What we have to be careful is that if we drop interest rates where the rate of interest is lower than inflation, then savers will not put money in financial savings and move it to gold and real estate, which is bad for India.
8. My view is that, as management, the focus has to be on having a strategy and executing it. As you do the strategy and execution, it is important to communicate it consistently.
9. As we were all growing up, there used to be a very big mantra in India which was called ‘export or perish.’ There was a long period when we used to focus on import substitution.
10. When a lion doesn’t get its prey, it remains hungry. When the prey saves himself, he has not won, but has saved his life.
11. If India grows steadily and does the structural things right and carefully unties knots, builds an institutional process which sort of cleans up the corruption and the baggage in the system, I see it as a wonderful marathon.
12. When I wear the hat of management, it is important that our management behaves and conducts as management accountable to the board.
13. For me, the real thing is make, serve and list in India. Which means we need manufacturing, we need services, and we need financial markets.
14. In a marathon, if you run too fast, you get exhausted. If you run too slow, you never make it.
15. As long as there is cash, and the economy is running, all is well. But as a bank, we’ll have to test, experiment, try a hundred different things. A few may work, a few may fail, but we have to experiment and try.
16. My view is make Indian manufacturing competitive, and if it is competitive, it can serve customers or consumers anywhere.
17. Growth should take care of the fear of job losses. People will be challenged to do different things. For people who are not up to it, purely based on objective assessment, that’s a different issue, which, you do it anyway.
18. There is socialism in the family that conflicts with meritocracy. And that bothered me.
19. A lot of our fiscal deficit went to fund consumption and really did not get used to build investment and infrastructure. The trouble is, you can get a spurt in GDP growth, which may not be sustainable. I would much rather build the gradient of a long-term marathon.
20. A weaker currency is a national tariff. After we get a weaker currency, we have to take advantage of that. Or else, we will waste it once more in inflation and in the inability to raise competitiveness.