Chanda Kochhar, KV Kamath defend India story

Amid a growing number of industry leaders expressing anguish over policy paralysis, ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar has said that people are talking more about challenges while taking the positives for granted.

Amid a growing number of industry leaders expressing anguish over policy paralysis, ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar has said that people are talking more about challenges while taking the positives for granted.

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Kochhar’s mentor and ICICI Bank chairman KV Kamath has also sounded an optimistic note. In his latest letter to ICICI Bank shareholders, Kamath said he was confident about a “robust and sustained (economic) growth over the medium-to-long term”.

Stressing that the reality is a little better than sentiments, Kochhar said that global situation was not the “big reason” for the current situation and “a lot of it is in our own hands.”

“...But we all tend to talk more about challenges and take the positives for granted,” she said in an interview published by banking giant Morgan Stanley.

In an earlier interview to Morgan Stanley, Infosys co-founder NRN Murthy had said that India’s image has suffered over the past three-four months and the country was suffering from “self-inflicted” challenges.

Asked about the things that need to be done, Kochhar said: “I will put into two buckets on what we need to do right. One is creating a more facilitative environment for investments. Second is regarding some structural factors in our economy.”

Kamath’s letter also expressed optimism amid “a sense of pessimism” prevailing around the Indian economy. “There are concerns about slowdown in investment, inflation and oil prices and corporate performance. But if one looks beyond the headlines and with a slightly longer time horizon — both past and future — one sees a different picture.”