Uday Kotak is an Indian billionaire, who founded Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2003. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
On 22 March 2003, it became the first company in India’s corporate history to receive a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India.
He is also the Chairman of the Indian infrastructure development and finance company, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS). As of March 2022, he has an estimated net worth of $14.5 billion.
Uday Kotak Biography & Wiki
| Uday Kotak Full Name | Uday Suresh Kotak |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, Businessman |
| Physical Stat | |
| Uday Kotak Height | In Centimeter- 175 cm In Meter- 1.75 m In Feet- 5’9” |
| Weight | In Kilogram- 80 kg In Pound- 176 lbs |
| Eye Color | Dark Brown |
| Hair Color | Salt & Pepper |
| Personal Life | |
| Date Of Birth | 15 March 1959 |
| Uday Kotak Age (2022) | 63 Years |
| Birthplace | Mumbai |
| Zodiac Sign/Sun Sign | Pisces |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Home town | Mumbai,Maharashtra |
| School | Hindi Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai |
| College/University | Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Food Habit | Vegetarian |
| Family member(s) | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Uday Kotak Wife | Pallavi Kotak |
| Marriage Date | 1985 |
| Children | Son- 2 Jay Kotak, Dhawal Kotak |
| Parents | Father– Suresh Kotak Mother– Name Not Known |
| Favorite Things | |
| Hobbies | Play the sitar & cricket |
| Income | |
| Uday Kotak Net Worth (2022) | 14.5 Billion USD |
Family, Early Life and Education
Uday Kotak was born 15 March 1959 to Ramesh Kotak and his wife in an upper-middle-class Gujarati Lohana joint-family in Mumbai, which was into the cotton trading business. His father had returned to India from Karachi after Partition.
Uday was raised in a joint-family household with 60 persons under one roof in a large house in Babulnath. His joint-family was originally into cotton and other agricultural commodities trading business.
Kotak completed his schooling in Hindi Vidya Bhavan. Uday completed his college and received his B.com degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics.
He obtained his post-graduation degree from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.
He is married to Pallavi Kotak, a marathon runner. They got married within two months of dating. They met at a party for the first time and fell in love. Pallavi supported him to begin his own business.
She could be regarded as the main driving force behind his success. The couple has two children and resides in Mumbai.
The couple has two children. His elder son named Jai Kotak. Jai has done Master of Business Administration – MBA at Harvard Business School.
Dhawal, the younger son is involved in providing mid-day meals to underprivileged students in Govandi-Chembur-Deonar belt in eastern Mumbai. Dhaval wants to feed a million children every day. Dhaval is an undergraduate from Yale University
Career
After completing his MBA, Kotak was set to join Hindustan Unilever, an Indian subsidiary of the multinational consumer goods company (FMCG Company).
Then he decided to try his hands at business, Uday joined his family business where he would have to deal with family members. Uday was always very keen on finance. He was no longer interested to continue with it.
While doing his MBA, Kotak decided to start out on his own, in the early 1980s, on his father’s insistence, Kotak started his own small financial agency at Navsari building premise from a 300 sq. ft. office space that his father offered him and said: “Son, you do what you want.”
Uday started his finance and bill discounting business with a seed capital borrowed from family and friends. The major part of investment comes from his best friend Anand Mahindra. Therefore the financial agency was named Kotak Mahindra.
Uday provided financial support to business organizations including Nelco, a Tata subsidiary at minimal interest rates. He charged low-interest rates to business organizations compared to banks.
After getting huge success, Uday decided to establish something big. At the age of 23, Uday initiated Kotak Capital Management Finance Ltd, a financial consultancy, which later became Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd.
Uday Kotak Eminent as a self-made billionaire banker
Uday Kotak’s strong belief that trust is the key for any financial services, later, he collaborated with the Mahindra Group and brought in the new name ‘Kotak Mahindra’.
On 22 March 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd received a banking license from Reserve Bank of India. In India’s corporate history, this is the first non-banking finance company in India who received a banking license and transform into a bank from a non-banking finance company.
Uday ended the partnership with Goldman Sachs by acquiring its 25% stake in two subsidiaries for $72 million in 2006.
Kotak collected ₹ 30 lakh to start an NBFC in 1980 for bill discounting. His investment in Hutchison Essar of ₹ 2 crore investment in 1998 fetched him ₹ 1,019 crores in 2006.
Kotak Mahindra Bank – a story of evolution.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has evolved to provide several financial assistance such as asset reconstruction, commercial banking, mutual funds, investment banking, insurance, and more.
In 2014, Kotak converted a bill-discounting business into a financial services conglomerate and become the 2nd largest scheduled commercial bank in India by market capitalization with more than 1270 branches.
In 2015, Kotak Mahindra Bank had partnered with the telco-giant Airtel and ventured into general insurance to start a small payments bank.
Entrepreneur journey of Uday Kotak:
He started a bill discounting business in 1986, then entered into the hire purchase and lease market in 1987. Uday started the auto finance division in 1990.
He took over India’s largest retail marketing network, FICOM. In 1992, Kotak started the Funds Syndication Sector.
Uday included his distribution and brokerage businesses into Securities Company in 1995. He also incorporated his investment banking division into Kotak Mahindra Capital Company in 1995.
In 1996, Uday Kotak bought a stake in Ford Credit and his car finance company was hived off into a Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited, a separate Auto Finance Company.
Uday Kotak launched Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company and entered the mutual fund market in 1998.
In 2000, He tied up with a pan-African investment, banking, savings, insurance group, Old Mutual Limited and started a life insurance business in India.
Uday sold Matrix to Friday corporation and incorporated Kotak Securities Limited into Kotak Finance Limited in 2001.
He transformed Kotak Mahindra Finance Limited into a Kotak Bank in 2003 which became the first Indian non-banking finance company to do so and received a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India -RBI.
Uday launched a private equity fund named India Growth Fund in 2004. He also started the Real Estate Fund in 2005.
Kotak bought the 25% stake in Kotak Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company which was held by Goldman Sachs in 2006.
Uday started a pension fund under the pension scheme in 2008. Uday Kotak entered as an anchor investor in Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange in 2009. He opened a representative office in Dubai of Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2009.
Awards and Honors
Uday Kotak has been honored with many awards which are listed below:
- Uday was ranked #2 in Best CEO in the year 2020.
- Kotak Mahindra bank was ranked #4 in the Best Managed Company in the year 2020.
- Uday received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Magna Awards 2019 by Businessworld.
- At the Business Today Best CEO Awards 2019, he was named the Best CEO in Banking Sector.
- In 2019, Kotak received the Best Bank Domestic award at the Asset Country Awards 2019.
- He was ranked #8th in India’s 50 most powerful people of 2017 list by India Today.
- He was the only Indian Financier to feature in Money Masters: The Most Powerful People in The Financial World, by Forbes magazine, US (May 2016).
- He was named Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year in June 2014.