RBI approves re-appointment of Uday Kotak as MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Uday Kotak as the managing director and chief executive officer of Kotak Mahindra Bank for a period of three years with effect from January 1, 2021.

The banking sector regulator has also approved the re-appointment part-time chairman Prakash Apte and Dipak Gupta as Joint MD for three years with effect from January 2021.

In a regulatory filing, the Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has vide its letter dated December 14, 2020, granted approval for the re-appointment of Mr. Prakash Apte as Part-time Chairman; Mr. Uday Kotak as MD & CEO; and Mr. Dipak Gupta as Joint MD for a period of 3 years, with effect from January 1, 2021." It added, the Board of Directors of the Bank and the Shareholders had approved the aforesaid re-appointments, subject to the approval of the RBI, at their respective meetings held on May 13, 2020, and August 18, 2020."

Kotak is founder managing director and promoter of the bank, while Apte was appointed as the part-time Chairman of the bank at the annual general meeting held on July 19, 2018, for a period from July 20, 2018, till December 31, 2020.

Uday Kotak's re-appointment came in question after RBI released a discussion paper in June 2020 on governance at commercial banks. The paper has proposed capping the tenure of bank CEOs, whoa re promoters or large shareholders at 10 years. Kotak has already served as the head of Kotak Mahindra Bank for the past 17 years.