New Delh : Prominent Indian banker K.V. Kamath will take over as the first president of the $100 billion BRICS Bank within a span of 10 days post his resignation from various board positions which he currently holds, a senior government official said.
“Kamath will join in the next week or 10 days after he resigns from various boards,” union Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told media persons here on Thursday.
Kamath, 67 is the non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank as well as the non-executive chairperson of the Indian IT giant, Infosys.
Previously, he served as ICICI Bank’s managing director and CEO from May 1996 until his retirement from executive responsibilities on April 30, 2009.
The BRICS bank is promoted by the five major emerging global economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to cater to the financial needs of these countries for developmental purposes.
With an authorized capital of $100 billion, it has been christened New Development Bank (NDB) and will start its operations with an initial capital of $50 billion with each of the five member nations contributing $10 billion.
Mehrishi said ratification from Brazil is pending to start the bank.
“The ratification from Brazil is expected only by the end of this year as they have a longer parliamentary procedure for this. So probably the bank will become functional sometime next year,” he said.
Leaders from the BRICS countries agreed upon the NDB at a meeting last year. It was agreed that the new bank will be set up in the Asian financial powerhouse, Shanghai with India being given the right to nominate its first president.
The BRICS nations together account for nearly $16 trillion in gross domestic product and house 40 percent of the world population.