New Delhi: Four months ahead of his scheduled departure from the role, Uday Kotak, the founder, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has tendered his resignation. His tenure would have expired on 31 December 2023.
Kotak posted on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday that since Kotak Mahindra Bank’s chairman, joint managing director, and CEO were all supposed to step down by the end of the year, he was voluntarily resigning early “to ensure a smooth transition by sequencing these departures”.
In the interim, Dipak Gupta, who currently serves as the joint managing director, will assume the responsibilities of the Managing Director and CEO until 31 December, subject to approvals, said Kotak in his post.
In his 1 September resignation letter to Prakash Apte, the chairman of the bank’s board of directors, which he also shared on X, Kotak said he had been mulling over the decision for quite some time and believes this is the “right thing for the institution”.
My letter is attached pic.twitter.com/vcSIEcvy2r
— Uday Kotak (@udaykotak) September 2, 2023
“With a view to sequencing this process from a transition and stability perspective, I have decided to take this action after completion of the financial year,” he added.
Kotak also said that he is going to be occupied with personal commitments and that the bank has an “outstanding management team” to carry his legacy forward.
“In the recent past, we have taken various measures to fortify our institution and make it future ready,” Kotak said in his letter. “These include steps taken to ensure its financial stability and strengthen the risk matrix. We have added talents in the areas of technology, customer experience, marketing and risk analytics.”
Diverging from his family’s cotton trading business, Kotak started Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd in 1985, which later evolved into the Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2003, becoming the country’s first non-banking finance company to be converted into a commercial bank, shows the bank website. His academic qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from Sydenham College, Mumbai, and a Master’s in management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.
Kotak has been the bank MD and CEO since August 2002, according to the website. His transition into the position of a non-executive, non-independent director of the bank was necessitated by a 2021 RBI guideline capping the tenure of business heads in the country to 15 years.
According to media reports, the bank’s board has engaged a consulting firm to lead a global search to find Kotak’s replacement.
Disclosure: Uday Kotak is among the distinguished founder-investors of ThePrint. Please click here for details on investors.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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