Kotak Mahindra Bank’s group president and head of commercial banking, Manish Kothari will step down from bank on 30 September, the private sector lender said in an exchange filing on Thursday.
The bank has initiated a planned transition and integrated the commercial banking portfolio handled by Kothari into its retail and institutional business segments, the filing said.
Kothari, who has been with the bank for nearly 30 years and spent more than 15 years on its key leadership team, is leaving to pursue a career outside the bank, possibly an entrepreneurial one.
“This has reference to our conversation a few months back wherein I had discussed with you regarding my interest in pursuing a journey outside of Kotak (possibly an entrepreneurial one),” according to Kothari’s resignation letter.
“Over the last few months, I have worked closely with the whole-time directors (WTDs) and with all my business heads to ensure a strong handover of the various businesses and, as things stand today, I am personally quite satisfied with the outcome,” he said in his resignation letter.
As head of commercial banking, Kothari oversaw agribusiness, (MSMEs) and corporates, rural finance, tractor and crop loans, logistics and infrastructure, commercial vehicles, commercial equipment loans, working capital, microcredit and gold loans. He previously led the corporate banking team.
Kothari holds a BTech in metallurgical engineering and an MBA in marketing and finance from the Xavier School of Management, formerly XLRI.
Kothari’s resignation comes as the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer, Ashok Vaswani, approaches the end of his three-year term on 31 December. Vaswani has decided not to seek reappointment for personal reasons.
Vaswani, who has previously worked with Barclays and Citigroup, took charge as CEO on 1 January 2024. The bank has said the process to appoint his successor will be completed within applicable regulatory timelines.
During the bank’s June-quarter earnings call, Vaswani said the was likely to extend beyond the bank’s internal leadership ranks and that he expected the Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) to look more broadly while choosing his successor.
He said the board and the NRC were conscious of regulatory timelines and would submit applications to the Reserve Bank of India accordingly.
Typically, bank boards send a list of candidates for the top post to the central bank about six months before the incumbent’s tenure ends. Banks generally submit at least three names, including internal and external candidates, for the regulator’s consideration.
For the quarter ended June, the bank’s customer assets grew 16% year-on-year to ₹5.71 trillion. reported a 26% year-on-year rise in standalone net profit to ₹4,123 crore in the first quarter of FY27, while net interest income increased 9% on year to ₹7,259 crore.