Uday Kotak is an Indian philanthropist, banker and businessman, owner of banking and financial services company Kotak Mahindra Bank. In 2023, he was named the third richest banker in the world and the richest banker in India.
Wiki/Biography
Uday Suresh Kotak was born on Sunday, March 15, 1959, in Bombay, Bombay State (now Mumbai, Maharashtra), India (64 years old; as of 2023). His zodiac sign is Pisces. Uday revealed in an interview that he once lived in a large family of 60 people in Mumbai. Talking about this, he said,
I was born in Mumbai in a family with 60 people living together. This is a large floor in a large house. After the partition of India and Pakistan, my father returned to India from Karachi. He came from a large family; my grandfather had five brothers. When my father came to India, we joined the main branch of the family that already lived here. “
After completing his education at Hindi Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, he enrolled at Sydenham College, Mumbai, where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in commerce; he was the topper of his class. Later, he joined Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai, where he received his MBA. Uday revealed in an interview that he had to give up a year of his MBA after he injured his forehead during a cricket match and had to undergo emergency surgery.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: dark brown
family
Uday Kotak was born into a middle-class family in Mumbai, Gujarat.
Parents and siblings
His father, Suresh Kotak, was a businessman who traded cotton and agricultural products with China, Poland and other countries. His mother’s name is Indira Kotak. His sister Aarti Suresh Kotak is an entrepreneur.
Photos by Suresh Kotak and Indira Kotak
wife and children
His wife, Pallavi Kotak, is a businesswoman and mountaineer who trekked to Everest Base Camp in 2014. He married her in 1985.
Photos of Pallavi Kotak
The couple has two sons. The eldest son Jay Kotak is a businessman and works in Kotak Mahindra Bank. The younger son, Dhawal Kotak, graduated from Columbia Business School.
Jay Kotak and Uday Kotak
Dhawal Kotak and Uday Kotak
Profession
Family business
After undergoing surgery and temporarily giving up his studies, Uday joined the family business in Mumbai. However, he later left the family business and founded a financial company. Uday revealed in an interview that he was reluctant to work in the family business due to differences of opinion with other family members on how to run the business.
Conduct financial business
After completing his MBA course, Uday received a job offer from Hindustan Unilever; however, he rejected the offer and set up a financial company in Navsari, Mumbai. He discussed this issue in an interview and said:
I applied for a job at Hindustan Lever, got selected and decided to join. At that stage, I had a serious conversation with my father. He asked, Uday, what do you want to do with your life? ” I said, I don’t know; but I will not join the family business. I don’t want to have the problem of working with 14 family members and being one of them. Then he said, if I convince the family to give you a small office space to work What? So what do you want to do? I said I wanted to be a financial advisor. He asked my family, and I was fooled. They gave me a small office and asked me to think about what to do.”
After the financial company was established, his father Suresh introduced him to financial guru Shivanand Mankekar, who taught Uday the workings of the stock market and finance.
Kotak Mahindra Bank
In 1985, he formed a financial company called Kotak Capital Management with banker Sidney Pinto. He started the company with an initial investment of less than $80,000 (approximately Rs 30 lakh) borrowed from family and friends. The company has bill discounting business with Tata Group and Mahindra Group. While working with Mahindra, he came in contact with Anand Mahindra, who was then the Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra. Uday Kotak asked Anand to invest Rs. 1 lac in his company and proposed to change the name from Kotak Capital Management to Kotak Mahindra Finance. In 1989, as the company’s profits increased, Kotak expanded its business from simply discounting bills to providing car loans. In 1990, he acquired HL Financial Consultants & Management Services Pvt. On April 8, 1992, Uday purchased 10% of the shares of Bank of Madura. Uday Kotak said that at that time private entities were not allowed to buy more than 1% of the bank’s shares, so he had to buy the shares through different companies registered under different names; he sold the shares in 2001. In 1994, he assumed the directorship of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Limited (KMAMCL).
Photos taken by Uday Kotak in the 1990s
In 1995, he signed an investment banking and brokerage agreement with Goldman Sachs. On July 27, 1995, he founded Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited (KMCCL). In 1997, Uday acquired national newspaper Business Times (now Business Standard) for Rs 1 crore; the deal was signed at a time when Kotak Mahindra Finance was in debt of Rs. 10 billion rupees. He discussed this issue in an interview and said:
At this stage, the Sarkar family will make tougher decisions. But before that, I said, no matter what the book value of your plant and machinery is, we make a financial investment, but we don’t want to run it. They are very happy. That’s how we got into business standards. “
On December 13, 1996, he established Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited and served as its director. Kotak Mahindra Finance ventured into mutual funds in 1998 and life insurance in 2001. Kotak Mahindra formed a joint venture with Ford Credit in the 1990s after Ford acquired a 40% stake in Kotak Mahindra Primus; however, the partnership broke down in 2005 when Kotak Mahindra bought a stake in Ford Credit. Thereafter, Kotak Mahindra Primus was renamed as Kotak Mahindra Prime.
Uday Kotak at press conference
On August 31, 2000, he became a director of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited (KMLICL). Kotak Mahindra Finance received its banking license from the Reserve Bank of India in February 2003. This makes it the first financial company in India to become a bank. Thereafter, Kotak Mahindra Finance was renamed as Kotak Mahindra Bank.
In 2006, Kotak Mahindra Bank ended its partnership with Goldman Sachs, which sold its stake for $72 million. Kotak Mahindra Bank in November 2014 finalized a $2.4 billion deal to acquire rival ING Vysya Bank, part-owned by Dutch financial services group ING. In the same year, Kotak Mahindra Bank purchased a 15% stake in Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) from Financial Technologies Group for Rs 1,000 crore. 4.59 billion rupees (equivalent to US$75.21 million). This makes Kotak Mahindra Bank the largest shareholder in the company. Kotak Mahindra General Insurance started operations in 2015 with IRDAI approval; it is a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Gerry Grimstone and Uday Kotak with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Uday Kotak became the Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited on January 1, 2021. In 2023, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired microfinance provider Sonata Finance for Rs 100 Cr. 537 crore ($67 million). Uday Kotak resigned as Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank on September 1, 2023.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In June 2014, he won the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Uday Kotak wins Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- In 2015, he won the Economic Times Business Leader of the Year Award.
- In May 2016, he was the only Indian financier to be featured in Forbes magazine’s “Money Gurus: The Most Powerful People in Finance”.
- In the same year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Financial Express’ Best Bank Awards.
Uday Kotak receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Nitin Gadkari, Financial Express Best Bank Award
- In 2016, he received the Businessman of the Year award from Business India.
- In 2017, he ranked 7th out of 50 in India Today’s list of the 50 most powerful people in India.
- He received the USIBC Global Leadership Award at the India Creative Summit 2018.
- In 2019, he won the Magna Award for Lifetime Achievement organized by BusinessWorld.
- In 2021, he was named Indian Business Leader of the Year by CNBC-TV18.
car collection
income
In 2023, Uday Kotak’s annual revenue is expected to be Rs 324 crore.
net worth
As of June 15, 2023, Uday Kotak’s net worth is estimated to be $13.7 billion.
Uday Kotak Net Worth Snippet on Forbes
Facts/Trivia
- Uday revealed in an interview that he loved playing cricket and wanted to pursue a professional cricket career; however, after being seriously injured in a cricket match in the Bombay Kanga League in September 1979, he had to give up becoming a cricket player. A cricketer’s dream.
Photos of Uday Kotak playing cricket
- In 2014, he served as Chairman of the Corporate Governance Panel of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
- Uday followed a vegetarian diet.
- His favorite vacation destinations are Japan (cherry blossom season in April), Spain and Brazil.
- In October 2018, the Indian government appointed Uday as the non-executive chairman of the IL&FS board of directors.
- He served as a member of the International Advisory Group of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and as President-elect of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- In April 2020, he was named India’s third-richest billionaire.
- In April 2023, during a panel discussion at the ET Business Excellence Awards, Uday Kotak mentioned that the US dollar is the most powerful and influential currency in the world, and its power makes it the largest financial terrorist . However, he later clarified his remarks and said:
In a recent discussion about the U.S. dollar, I accidentally used the term “financial terrorist” and I would like to correct that. I mean, reserve currencies have disproportionate power, whether it’s the current account, whether it’s raising interest rates by 500 basis points, or whether it’s emerging countries holding dollars for liquidity. “
- In his spare time, Uday enjoys playing the sitar.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education