RBI approves appointment of Dipak Gupta as interim MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank

The Reserve Bank has given its nod for appointment of Dipak Gupta as interim Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank following the resignation of Uday Kotak.

RBI through its letter dated September 7, 2023, approved Gupta’s appointment for a period of two months with effect from September 2, 2023, Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a BSE filing. It is expected that RBI would decide the full time MD of the bank during the period. Uday Kotak stepped down as MD & CEO of the bank effective September 1, nearly four months ahead of his term. As an interim arrangement, its Joint Managing Director Gupta will carry out the duties of MD&CEO for two months as specified by RBI.

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As per the regulatory mandate restricting an MD’s term to 15 years, the bank’s board had earlier this year decided to appoint Uday Kotak as a non-executive director. Kotak, whose holding in the bank is 26 per cent, has become a non-executive director after his resignation as MD&CEO. He had been the MD since the bank’s inception in 2004. Kotak, the 64-year-old founder-promoter of Kotak Mahindra Bank, is the richest banker in the country by virtue of owning 26 per cent of the bank which was valued at over Rs 3.5 lakh crore as of September 1. The bank, during Kotak’s tenure, achieved many milestones, including acquisition of ING Vysya Bank in an all-share deal. The transaction was the biggest in the private sector banking space then. The merger did not face any regulatory roadblocks and the integration was smooth.

Taking to microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, Kotak had said, “Succession at Kotak Mahindra Bank has been foremost on my mind, since our Chairman, myself and Joint MD are all required to step down by year-end. I am keen to ensure a smooth transition by sequencing these departures. I initiate this process now and step down voluntarily as CEO”. A long time ago, “I saw names like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs dominate the financial world and dreamed of creating such an institution in India. It is with this dream that I started Kotak Mahindra 38 years ago, with 3 employees in a 300 sq ft office in Fort, Mumbai. I have deeply cherished every bit of this memorable journey, living my dream.” Kotak Mahindra Bank is now a pre-eminent bank and financial institution, created on the basic tenets of trust and transparency, he said.