Uday Kotak says India Inc must ‘go for growth’ to fire up animal spirits, in year-end musing

Veteran banker Uday Kotak has asked Indian businesses to unshackle and ‘go for growth’, in his musings for the new year, shared in a social media post on December 29.

Basing his note on 77 years of India’s independence, Kotak Mahindra Bank founder shared a set of ten forward-looking priorities to guide for sustainable growth, and to seek global competitiveness. Uday Kotak’s blueprint mentions the need for urgent focus on growth, by reigniting enterprise and the entrepreneurial ‘animal spirits’ to drive innovation and wealth creation.

A key principle in this pursuit, one that Kotak mentioned during the CNBC-TV18 Global Leadership Summit, is to maximize Return on Time Invested (ROTI), an effort to boost productivity across sectors.

Kotak also took a critical view of protectionism, which seems to be taking centrestage in global trade, reminding that while it may offer short-term advantages, it risks making India uncompetitive in the long run. He added that there’s a need for a roadmap to eliminate the current account deficit in ‘reasonable time’, to strengthen India’s economic resilience.

Kotak’s vision also extends to bolstering defense investments, and recognizing that military strength and national security is a ‘prerequisite for prosperity’.

With the changing global trade and business landscape, a ‘gentle and steady fiscal consolidation’ is essential to maintain financial stability while driving growth, he said.

Kotak’s roadmap also underscores the importance of avoiding over-regulation and micro-management in various sectors. He said a ‘zero accident’ policy could stifle innovation and growth, and is ‘high risk to growth’. Instead, there is a need to ‘respect free and fair markets’, with government interventions limited only in instances of distortions, like bubbles or manipulations.

With a population of 1.4 billion, Kotak said India must let ‘many flowers bloom’, to foster innovation and creativity. Finally, Kotak underscored the need to work toward eliminating India’s infamous status as home to some of world’s most polluted cities, and ‘walk the talk’ on sustainability.