Ufa (Russia), July 9 (IANS): The BRICS New Development Bank expects to start providing its first loans by April 2016, according to India's K.V. Kamath, the first president of the bank.

"What we want to do is by April next year we want to make our first loans, so we will have to build teams to identify projects, build simultaneously internal processes and procedures, hire people and then get to the funding process," Kamath told TASS news agency.

The ratification process which ended on July 7 in Moscow has allowed the bank to move forward and start working, according to Kamath.

"As of now, technically I have a white sheet of paper with only the names of my four vice-presidents. Everybody else has to be hired," Kamath said.

For the first three months, the bank will seek help from member-countries' local development banks, according to Kamath.

"I’ve started the process of consulting with our own development bank partners, in fact I was having meetings just now, to hire one-two-three people from each of the countries," he said.

"Recruitment will be purely merit-based from across our member-countries," Kamath said.