Kotak Mahindra Bank will face another departure of a top executive later this month.
Virat Diwanji, Group President and head of consumer bank, will step down from his role on July 31 on account of his superannuation.
It was earlier anticipated that Diwanji could get an extended term, as was the case with some of the senior leadership executives in the past, people familiar with the development said.
What's more, with Diwanji stepping down, the bank's consumer banking business could see a major revamp. "After Diwanji's exit, Kotak Mahindra Bank may not have a business unit called consumer banking," a person aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.
As part of the bank's newly formulated growth strategy, three critical functions of consumer banking have been identified, namely consumer products, distribution and proposition. Ambuj Chandna, presently President - Consumer Assets will assume charge as President – Consumer Products. This vertical will focus on overall products and liabilities. Newly inducted Pranav Mishra has been identified as President – Distribution and he will be responsible for branch banking and ATM networks. Rohit Bhasin, presently the chief marketing officer, will take charge as President – Propositions, a business unit that will design products for focused solutions.
An email sent to a Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson remained unanswered till the time of publishing the article. Mishra and Diwanji did not respond to messages.
While Bhasin joined the bank from Unilever in February 2023, Mishra is the newest entrant into Kotak Mahindra Bank. He has had stints at senior levels with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and ICICI Bank. At ICICI Bank, Mishra held senior positions in the retail business, handling various aspects of retail banking such as liabilities, branch banking and ATMs.
The three identified retail heads will report directly to Ashok Vaswani, the bank's managing director and CEO.
While a new plan has been drawn up for the retail business, sources aware of the development say Diwanji's exit and the ongoing reorganization may shake up things internally. "Usually nobody leaves the corner office at Kotak Mahindra Bank so easily. An extension or two is more or less considered a given, going by the past experiences," said a person in the know. It is worth noting that Diwanji is a part of Kotak's group management council, a highly coveted position that he has held for several years, and is usually restricted to select senior leadership members of the Kotak Group.
It remains to be seen who will replace Diwanji's position at the council.
Diwanji's exit from Kotak Mahindra Bank would be the second senior management departure from the bank. On April 30, KVS Manian stepped down as joint managing director of the bank. He will take charge as MD and CEO of Federal Bank from September 23, 2024.
While Manian's portfolio (which included wholesale and commercial banking, overseeing institutional equities and the investment banking businesses) was redistributed between Vaswani and Shanti Ekambaram, deputy managing director, Mishra's appointment may be the first instance of an outsider replacing an internal hand at the bank. Vaswani took over as MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank on January 1, 2024. In September 2023, Uday Kotak, founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank, decided to step down from the MD and CEO position. Dipak Gupta, the then Joint MD was then made interim CEO of the bank.
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