Kotak Mahindra Bank's 811 plan to double customer growth - as it happened

4:55pm: The press conference is over and that's a wrap from us. To sum up, it's zero balance, it's zero charges and zero acquisitions. Thanks for staying tuned. We have the full story of the announcements here.

4:50pm: Uday Kotak says branch expansion will be more measured from here on as the bank can cater to a wider customer base with fewer branches.

4:43pm: Back to the 811 plan, Kotak says there could be challenges on cannibalisation but "if we don't be creative, we will lose".

4:35pm: He continues discussing the NPA problem. "Don't take these as signals... but we see this [stressed assets business] as an opportunity and it interests us."

4:30pm: On NPAs, Kotak says the stresses assets piece needs significant capital and there could be very large play by the private sector.

"Fair price is the biggest problem for the stressed assets resolution today," he says.

4:23pm: Kotak says the board will take decision on how much capital it will raise and how much of it will be primary.

4:15pm: Kotak continues to fend off questions about acquisitions.

4:08pm: Still expecting details about tomorrow's board meeting. On a side note, Kotak Bank's market capitalisation last week surpassed that of ICICI Bank's to become the third most valued bank after HDFC Bank and State Bank of India.

4:01pm: Here's a short summary of the plan:

3:59pm: We're going to find out shortly about the agenda at tomorrow's board meeting.

On Monday, Kotak Mahindra Bank informed the stock exchanges that it will consider raising equity capital through qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares, rights issue or private placement at a board meeting on Thursday. The bank may also look at a follow-on public offer.

3:55pm: Kotak says, "811 is our way of responding to the disruption in banking."

3:52pm: The acquisition cost to get new customers under 811 is 80-90 percent lower than the current costs, says Kotak.

3:48pm: In short, the USP for this service is being able to open an account in 5 minutes.

3:43pm: If you thought the customer growth plan would involve an acquisition, you're wrong. Kotak makes it a point to state that it only involves organic growth.

3:40pm: "811 is Kotak's symbol of constructive, creative disruption in banking services," says Uday Kotak.

3:38pm: Uday Kotak claims Kotak will be the first bank where customers can open an account from an app with zero balance.

3:37pm: The 811 'digital account' plan offers zero balance with zero charges for all accounts. Only Aadhaar and PAN is required to operate an account.

3:36pm: He says the new plan is called '811', inspired by date (November 8) on which demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

3:34pm: Kotak says the plan is to double the customer base in the next 18 months, which he calls a conservative estimate.

3:32pm: And so it begins. Uday Kotak takes his seat says the purpose of the meet is to share the bank's "game-changing" transformative growth strategy.

3:30pm: As we wait for the presser to begin, the market's closing bell has just sounded and Kotak Mahindra Bank has ended the day at 858.00, down 0.22 percent.

3:25pm: Uday Kotak, Mohan Shenoi (President of Group Treasury & Global Markets) and S Ekambaram (President of Consumer Banking) will be addressing the press meet.

Preamble: Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of Kotak Mahindra Bank's much anticipated press conference. Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, is expected to make a big announcement.

There is speculation that the bank could announce a big acquisition in order to reduce Kotak's promoter stake in the bank.

Buzz over a possible big buyout resulted in stocks of Axis Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services and Shriram Transport Finance shooting up by 3-5 percent in intraday trading on Wednesday.

Another trigger for the acquisition speculation is the fact that Kotak Mahindra Bank has also called for a board meeting on Thursday.

Track our live updates here.