“The RBI’s decision to keep the repo rates on hold, but with a “ready to act” message was widely expected since the inflation, driven by vegetable prices, has been on a spiral since June. While the food prices are expected to temper from September onwards, the core inflation remains sticky. RBI’s inflation outlook for a period up to Q1 FY25 has been revised upwards, thus indicating a rate cut is further away in the horizon. Even our domestic economic outlook is robust, the global factors – especially the El Niño factor in September-October period may influence the next year’s crop outlook,” said Virat Diwanji, Group President and Head, Consumer Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
“The move to cut the temporary liquidity overhang from the return of ₹2000 banknotes through an Incremental CRR of 10% will help the price stability. These funds are expected to return to the system ahead of the festival season, boosting the domestic consumption,” he added.
“The central bank has rightly decided to wait for the monetary transmission data from the earlier hikes to take further actions,” he noted.
About Virat Diwanji
Virat Diwanji, Group President and Head, Consumer Bank, is with the Kotak Mahindra Group for over the last two and a half decades. Virat is part of the Bank’s Group Management Council that drives and oversees the Kotak Mahindra Group’s growth charter.
In his long innings at Kotak, Virat has led over 10 diverse business lines cutting across Assets and Liabilities and has been instrumental in metamorphosising many business divisions into success stories at Kotak. He took on the mantle of managing the branch banking business in November 2007 with the primary responsibility of establishing bank branches as a point of product distribution, transaction processing and differentiated customer experience.
Some of his career milestones include managing the first JV of the Group with an overseas partner, Ford Credit as its Managing Director as well as incubating and growing two niche customer segments of the consumer banking business viz. Priority & NRI Banking. In the recent past, Virat has successfully managed the integration of ING Vysya Bank’s retail distribution network with the branch banking network of Kotak, a melange of not only business but culture, talent and a unified vision.
Virat firmly believes in the mantra of 3PX2P, i.e. driving Profitability, Productivity and Performance through an active interplay of People (Talent/Teamwork) and Processes (Control/Compliance/Customer).
Virat is passionate about mentoring budding talent and has groomed several business leaders at all levels. He began his career with the management consultancy division of A. F. Ferguson & Company in1988. He joined Kotak in 1994.
Virat takes a keen interest in cricket and has played the Cooch Behar Trophy (Under- 19), the C KNayudu Trophy
(Under- 21) and the Rohinton Baria Trophy (Inter-University).