Kotak Mahindra Bank has appointed Anup Kumar Saha as the new Managing Director & CEO of the Bank for three years, with effect from January 1, 2027. The Reserve Bank of India accorded its approval for Saha in a letter dated September 30. The Board of Directors will now take further steps to formalise the appointment and seek approval from the bank’s members.
Anup Kumar Saha, currently Whole-time Director (Executive Director) of the Bank is replacing Ashok Vaswani.
Who is Anup Kumar Saha- Succeeding Ashok Vaswani
Shah has over 32 years of professional experience, of which 25 years have been in financial services across banking and non–banking financial institutions.
He joined the bank in January 2026 and took charge as Executive Director in March 2026.
In his current role, Saha oversees the Retail Bank, Government Business, Data Analytics and Marketing functions.
Before joining Kotak Mahindra Bank, Saha spent over seven years at Bajaj Finance. He joined Bajaj Finance in October 2017 as President–Consumer Finance.
He subsequently held several senior positions, including Deputy CEO–Consumer, MSME, Marketing, Operations & Service and Digital Platform, Executive Director and Deputy Managing Director.
He became Managing Director & CEO of Bajaj Finance in April 2025 and resigned from the position in July 2025.Before Bajaj Finance, Saha spent 14 years at ICICI Bank between May 2003 and June 2017. During his tenure, he held senior roles across Retail Secured Assets, Business Intelligence, Retail and Rural Collections, Credit Cards and Retail Structured Finance.
He also served as a nominee director of ICICI Bank on the boards of TransUnion CIBIL and ICICI Home Finance.Earlier in his career, Saha worked with GE Capital between 1999 and 2003, where he handled credit cards, sales and analytics. He also worked at Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) in production engineering between 1991 and 1995.
Anup Saha to lead Kotak’s growth and customer strategy
C. S. Rajan, Chairman of the Board, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “Anup brings with him extensive experience across banking and financial services and has already been actively engaged with the Bank’s businesses in his current role.”
“As the Bank continues to build on its strong foundations we look forward to Anup’s leadership in strengthening the franchise and in pursuing sustainable growth. On behalf of the Board, I wish Anup every success in leading Kotak into its next phase of growth,” Rajan added.
Saha said he was grateful to the board for the trust placed in him and looked forward to leading the bank.
“Kotak has a strong franchise, a trusted brand and talented teams across the organisation. I look forward to working with my colleagues to deepen customer relationships, tirelessly execute and build sustainable value for shareholders and all our stakeholders,” Saha said.
“We will remain firmly focused on doing the right thing and getting it right by the customer,” he added.