Kotak Mahindra Bank joins CEO succession wave among private banks

Kotak Mahindra Bank will become the latest private-sector lender to witness a leadership change after chief executive Ashok Vaswani decided to step down at the end of his current term on 31 December 2026.

Over the past two years, five other private-sector banks—Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Karnataka Bank and City Union Bank—have seen leadership changes. Meanwhile, South Indian Bank is also set for a transition, with its incumbent CEO stepping down at the end of his term in September.

Meanwhile, some of Vaswani's peers are either seeking reappointment or are expected to do so. Mint reported in April that a set of India's top private banks will decide by the end of next year who their new CEOs would be, and while the incumbents remain eligible, experts are keen on clarity over the second line of leadership.

CEOs of three prominent private-sector banks—HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and IDFC First Bank—will require regulatory nod for another term. HDFC Bank’s Sashidhar Jagdishan is willing to serve another term.

Leadership change

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday said Vaswani does not wish to seek reappointment when his term ends on 31 December.

The bank said in a stock exchange filing that Vaswani had informed the board of the bank that he did not wish to seek re-appointment “for personal reasons”.

“The board has, at its meeting held today, respected his decision and has initiated the process for the appointment of a new managing director and chief executive. The process will be completed within applicable regulatory timelines,” it said.

Now that the bank has begun the process of appointing a new managing director and CEO, it will have to submit a mix of internal and external candidates to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Vaswani’s announcement to step down after December comes a little over five months after it roped in a Bajaj Finance executive as a whole-time director. Anup Saha, the former managing director at the consumer financier, also has banking experience, having worked for 14 years at private-sector lender ICICI Bank.

At Kotak, he looks at consumer banking, marketing and data analytics functions, among others. Interestingly, reports in 2025 said Saha was being considered for the top job at IndusInd Bank, a role that eventually went to former Axis Bank executive Rajiv Anand.

“The board has, at its meeting held today, respected his decision and has initiated the process for the appointment of a new managing director and chief executive. The process will be completed within applicable regulatory timelines,” it said.

Now that the bank has begun the process of appointing a new managing director and CEO, it will have to submit a mix of internal and external candidates to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Vaswani’s announcement to step down after December comes a little over five months after it roped in a Bajaj Finance executive as a whole-time director. Anup Saha, the former managing director at the consumer financier, also has banking experience, having worked for 14 years at private-sector lender ICICI Bank.

At Kotak, he looks at consumer banking, marketing and data analytics functions, among others. Interestingly, reports in 2025 said Saha was being considered for the top job at IndusInd Bank, a role that eventually went to former Axis Bank executive Rajiv Anand.

Asked about the presence of the founder, Uday Kotak, on the board, Vaswani said he had been very open about it and had thought a lot about it in New York.

Kotak was the managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank till 1 September 2023 and then became a non-executive non-independent director from the next day.

“I would ask you the question. If you owned 26% of a company that was worth a lot of money, would you give the keys to someone and say, ‘Thank you very much, come back and see me in five years’? That's not realistic.”

Now that the bank has begun the process of appointing a new managing director and CEO, it will have to submit a mix of internal and external candidates to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Vaswani’s announcement to step down after December comes a little over five months after it roped in a Bajaj Finance executive as a whole-time director. Anup Saha, the former managing director at the consumer financier, also has banking experience, having worked for 14 years at private-sector lender ICICI Bank.

At Kotak, he looks at consumer banking, marketing and data analytics functions, among others. Interestingly, reports in 2025 said Saha was being considered for the top job at IndusInd Bank, a role that eventually went to former Axis Bank executive Rajiv Anand.