Interest rates may normalise after some time as there was ample liquidity into the system, but the rupee appreciation will continue for some more time. said KV Kamath, MD & CEO of ICICI Bank in Mumbai on Monday.
?The rupee was likely to keep strengthening and it may appreciate by Rs1 or Rs 2 every year for a few years, whatever the market condition may be,?? he cautioned .
Hence, Kamath advised the industry to get ready for the strong rupee. He was addressing CII’s sixth manufacturing summit. Kamath, who is also the vice president of CII, said that contrary to popular perception, availability of financial capital is no longer a challenge as industry is currently operating on a debt equity ratio of 25:75. The other major challenge for industry is that of people and skills upgradation where Kamath highlighted that ICICI Bank itself required about 10,000 people per annum for the next 5 years.
Talking about economic growth, Kamath said, competitiveness is the permanent factor driving the 10% growth, which is again determined by the growth of the financial services sector and the increase in demand in rural areas, among others.