US Should Worry About Unintended Consequences of Its Actions: Kotak

The biggest opportunities and risks are at turning points in history...we're getting to one such period Uday Kotak non-executive director, Kotak Mahindra Bank

- Anshika Kayastha

The US could face "unintended consequences" of taking an aggressive stance against the world, Uday Kotak, founder and non-executive director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said at the Mint Investment Summit and Awards 2025, where he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. Kotak also touched upon challenges facing the banking sector, and his role as non-executive director at the private bank. Edited excerpts:

How does the global scenario look considering recent events?

We have seen the change happen in the US. We have seen it play out for the last two months and we will see some announcements on 2 April. First of all, India seems to be able to navigate the change and I hope reasonably. We have a trade surplus of $46 billion with the US. We should be able to navigate it, and even if we lose some of it, we will substitute it with some other country. There may be some net trade loss...

Second is on investment flows. The US should be very worried about the unintended consequences of its actions if you take an aggressive position with the rest of the world, which the US has. The US is the most trusted for savings across the world. Every sovereign nation in the world puts their surplus significantly in US treasuries. What happens if there is a little wrinkle in that confidence, what happens if some of the monies of the sovereigns move away from the US to a Eurozone or gold or something else? What is the implication for the US, including the funding of its treasury? That is one thing I would certainly watch closely.