(Recasts with board approval, comments)

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Friday cautiously backed plans to redistribute voting power among its 185 member countries, with some emerging and developing economies gaining more influence and others losing.

The move would boost the voting shares of emerging economic powers China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea. At the same time, it would reduce that of others like Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile and South Africa.

The IMF board recommended the changes to its full membership for a final vote next month.

If approved, it will be one of the most comprehensive overhauls of the IMF's voting system in 60 years, aimed at recognizing the rapid rise of economies such as China and India.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the agreement was a major step forward to rebalance the voting power from over-represented countries to under-represented ones, although he acknowledged it was not perfect.

"I'm not pretending that the reform is done and that now it is perfect and that representation of the different countries is exactly what we should expect. No," Strauss-Kahn told a news conference.

"The process goes in a good direction ... and it is an improvement in the legitimacy of the fund but it is not enough, absolutely not, but it is an improvement," he said, adding: "The only outcome of waiting more would probably have been that there won't be any reform at all."