BRICS to launch its New Development Bank in April 2016

The first President of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), Kundapur Vaman Kamath, told journalists at the Confederation of Indian Industry meeting in Mumbai that the bank will be launched in April 2016.

"I hope to work with BRICS and other countries of the NDB over the next few months so as to build project pipelines by April 2016. I am engaged with the government to ensure that there are some Indian projects in the infra space that can be taken up," he said.

"The reason for not including BRICS in the name of the bank was that new partner countries may eventually join the BRICS group of emerging economies," Kundapur Vaman Kamath explained.

Stating that the NDB will be different from other multilateral financial institutions, Mr Kamath said the bank would have a different mindset to meet the requirements of developing countries and would be a lot more flexible in its operations.

"Its policy mindset will be driven by all stakeholders and not just the lenders. An important aspect will be with regard to the speed of lending for projects posed to the institution," he said.

He added the NDB would also be open for further investment.

The agreement on the formation of the bank was signed in Fortaleza, Brazil, on 15 July 2014 with the aim of funding infrastructure projects in the BRICS countries and other developing nations.

The first NDB President is from India; the inaugural Chairman of the Board of Directors is Brazilian, and the inaugural Chairman of the Board of Governors is Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.