RBI board's decisions to be positive for economy: Uday Kotak

Veteran banker, Uday Kotak, Wednesday welcomed the decisions taken at the Reserve Bank of India's recent board meeting, and said the outcomes will be positive for the economy.

After a nine-hour meeting held on Monday, the board took a slew of steps including a restructuring scheme for MSME borrowers with credit facilities of up to Rs 25 crore and giving banks some concession on capital adequacy norms.

"I am very happy that there are positive outcomes which ultimately help the economy. I am glad that the board had a debate and I respect the judgement of the board," Kotak who is managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank told reporters on the sidelines of CII HR conclave.

The RBI board announced plans to set up a committee to examine the economic capital framework (ECF) of RBI. It also decided to refer the issue of relaxing prompt corrective framework (PCA) for weak banks to the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) of RBI.

The board, while deciding to retain the CRAR at 9 per cent, agreed to extend the transition period for implementing the last tranche of 0.625 per cent under the Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB), by one year, which is, up to March 31, 2020.

Domestic rating agency, Crisil, said the decision to extend the timeline for implementation of the last tranche of CCB under Basel III capital regulations could reduce the burden of public sector banks (PSBs) this fiscal by Rs 35,000 crore.

Earlier, while delivering his speech, Kotak said the importance of the role of boards in ensuring long-term leadership and succession plan will continue to increase.

Talking about variable compensation given to employees, he said a better balance in terms of how to manage compensation was extremely important.

He said one of the biggest challenges the financial sector is facing is that of poor risk management, which has led to poor practices on financial management and accounting.