Kotak not tempted to list subsidiaries as rivals go ahead

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd sees little value in listing its subsidiaries and selling a stake to “foreigners” at present and would rather focus on building an enduring institution, said chief executive officer Ashok Vaswani, even as peers have taken their units public during India's record IPO surge.

- Shayan Ghosh & Satish John

History shows that whenever a private or public sector bank sold a significant stake, they brought buyers from overseas, Vaswani, who will complete two years at the helm of India's fourth-largest private lender by assets in January, said in an interview with Mint.

"We are not here for a day in the sun or a quarter in the sun; we are here to build a lasting, lasting, lasting franchise," said Vaswani. "The foreigner brought in no talent, the foreigner brought in no brand. Yet the foreigner, 10 years later, made out like a bandit. What is the value gained by the person who was selling?"

Kotak Mahindra Bank is the holding company that fully owns all 20 subsidiaries of the financial services group. It also has three associate companies:

Infina Finance Pvt Ltd (49.99% stake), Phoenix ARC Pvt Ltd (49.9%), and Zurich Kotak General Insurance Company (India) Ltd. While Vaswani is not keen to bring in a foreign partner in its subsidiaries, Kotak sold 70% in its general insurance unit to Zurich Insurance Co. in June 2024 for ₹5,560 crore and now owns the remaining 30%.