Uday Kotak resigns as Kotak bank MD and CEO 4 months ahead of end of tenure

Bank applied to RBI to approve new MD & CEO effective January 1, 2024; deputy managing director Dipak Gupta to act as interim chief

Mumbai September 3 dmanewsdesk: Uday Kotak has resigned as Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. with immediate effect, four months ahead of the end his tenure. The board taking note of the development has appointed Joint Managing Director Dipak Gupta as interim MD and CEO.

“Uday Kotak has ceased to be the Managing Director & CEO of the Bank, with effect from September 1, 2023 on account of his resignation considered at the Bank’s Board Meeting held on Saturday and has become a Non-Executive Director of the Bank,” the bank said in a filing with the stock exchanges.

The bank has applied to the Reserve Bank for approval of one of two names it forwarded, for the position of Managing Director and CEO, effective January 1, 2024. It has also applied for approval of a new name for the post of non-executive chairman.

“As an interim arrangement, Dipak Gupta, the Joint managing director, will carry out the duties of the managing director and CEO until December 31, 2023, subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India and the members of the bank,” the filing added.

Stating in a handwritten letter to the bank’s chairman Prakash Apte that the institution which was created 38 years ago with 3 employees has now become a pre-eminent bank with over 1 lakh employees, Mr. Kotak said: “It is time to move on.”

“Although I still have few months to go, I tender my resignation as MD & CEO of the bank with immediate effect. I have mulled over this decision for some time and believe this is the right thing for the institution,” he wrote in his letter.

“On December 31, 2023, the term of yourself as chairman, & myself as MD & CEO and Dipak Gupta as Joint MD expire. 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 and AGM for FY23,” he added in the letter.

Pointing out that over the next few months he would be significantly occupied with some personal and family commitments including his son’s wedding, he wrote, “consequently, considering the proximity of these events to the end of my tenure, I thought it appropriate to handover the baton and stagger the transition.”

“I stand in a lonely place of being a founder, promoter and significant shareholder of this great institution. It bears our family name and carries that as its brand. I am committed as a shareholder to see this institution sustain and grow,” he further wrote.

Mr. Kotak in his letter said as new leaders take over, “I look forward to my new role as non-executive director, a role entitled to me by the board and a overwhelming majority of shareholders of the bank.”

Source: The Hindu