India’s banking regulator approved the appointment of Anup Saha as chief executive officer of Kotak Mahindra Bank, elevating a consumer-finance veteran as the lender seeks to accelerate expansion in the country’s competitive financial sector.
Saha has been appointed for a three-year term starting from Jan. 1, the Mumbai-based lender said in an exchange filing Thursday. He will succeed Ashok Vaswani, who is stepping down for personal reasons when his three-year term ends on Dec. 31. The board will take further steps to formalize Saha’s appointment, the bank said.
The firm’s shares rose as much as 4.1%, the most in nearly six months, outperforming the Nifty Bank Index.
The leadership change comes as Kotak Mahindra Bank seeks to close the gap with larger private-sector rivals and regain momentum after regulatory curbs slowed its digital expansion. Saha’s consumer-finance background underscores the bank’s focus on retail lending.
Saha joined the billionaire Uday Kotak-backed lender in January from Bajaj Finance Ltd., India’s largest non-bank finance company, where he oversaw the expansion of its consumer-finance division. At Kotak, he has been responsible for retail banking, marketing and data analytics, and was appointed a whole-time director in March.
The appointment “lifts leadership overhang,” and delivers “strategic continuity” while installing a retail, consumer-banking-focused leader at the helm, Citi analysts, including Kunal Shah, wrote in a note. A growth-focused CEO removes ambiguity around capital allocation, supporting faster redeployment of surplus liquidity, the analysts said.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, which trails private sector rivals such as HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd, and Axis Bank Ltd. in terms of asset size, has turned to acquisitions to expand. It agreed to buy Deutsche Bank’s consumer banking and wealth business in India, after acquiring the personal-loan portfolio from Standard Chartered Bank in 2024.
Vaswani said he was “confident” Saha will build on the bank’s strong foundations, deepen its customer relationships and lead “with purpose and discipline.”
The veteran has over three decades of experience, including 25 years spanning banks and non-banking financial institutions. He also had a 14-year stint at ICICI Bank Ltd., the country’s second biggest lender by assets, where he led some retail verticals.
Vaswani joined Kotak in 2024 after a career at Citigroup and Barclays, becoming the first outsider to take charge of the bank after founder Kotak’s more than two-decades at the helm. Kotak had led the firm since its inception as a shadow lender in 1985.
Shortly after Vaswani took charge, the firm was barred from adding new customers due to technology shortcomings, before the restrictions were lifted about 10 months later. Stress in the broader microfinance industry also prompted the lender to rein in growth.
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