Uday Kotak in letter to shareholders: Going forward, I see my role as non-executive board member, strategic shareholder

Uday Kotak is set to hang up his boots as Kotak MD and CEO by the end of this year.

Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) Uday Kotak will continue as a non-executive board member and strategic shareholder after he steps down from the whole-time role, the veteran banker wrote in a letter to shareholders.

"Going forward, I see my role as a non-executive board governance member and a strategic shareholder with a long term perspective of nurturing a world class institution," Kotak wrote.

Further, Kotak said it is unusual in today’s world of banking anywhere to have an individual with around 26 percent skin in the game with disproportionate family assets in one stock, emotionally attached to living his dream of making India proud.

Kotak along with relatives and enterprises in which he has beneficial interest holds 25.95 percent of the equity share capital of the bank and 17.26 percent of the paid-up share capital of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited as on March 31, 2023

"I am confident that the alignment and commitment of the shareholders, board and the management will navigate us through the changing times. And of course, dealing with the ever-evolving regulatory and policy landscape," Kotak added.

Kotak is required to step down from the CEO position by the end of this year.

In a rather emotional letter to shareholders, Kotak said he has spent most of his life here, starting from scratch with very little capital in 1985, three people and a 300 sq. foot office.
"We were at the right place at the right time. We are a quintessential product of the India growth story and the financial sector evolution. We have created value for stakeholders and now provide ~100,000 direct jobs and a multiple of that in indirect jobs," Kotak said.

A investor who invested Rs 10,000 with us in 1985 would be worth Rs 300 crore today, Kotak added. "Most importantly, we have built an institution, on the basic tenets of trust and transparency," Kotak said.

The CEO added that the alignment and commitment of shareholders, board and the management will navigate the bank through the changing times. And of course, dealing with the ever-evolving regulatory and policy landscape.

In February this year, Bloomberg had reported that board has engaged consulting firm Egon Zehnder to lead a global search for a chief executive officer to replace its billionaire founder Kotak.

Kotak has been leading the bank since its inception as a non-banking financial institution in 1985. It became a commercial lender in 2003. He has a net worth of about $13.4 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.