How Uday Kotak Turned Rs 30 Lakh into a Multi-Billion Dollar Empire

As a young boy growing up in Mumbai in a large joint family, Uday Kotak lived with nearly 60 relatives. He would go on to become the founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank and one of India’s most successful businessmen.

In those days, when he was young, Uday’s family was involved in cotton trading, and he spent his childhood playing cricket in narrow lanes and practising the sitar.

Uday Kotak launched his finance company in 1985 with Rs 30 lakh borrowed from friends and family (Photos: IANS)

According to Forbes, Uday Kotak’s personal wealth in June 2025 was about 15.4 billion US dollars. That is around Rs 1.28 lakh crore in Indian money. Most of his wealth comes from his big share in Kotak Mahindra Bank and the companies linked to it.

He began with a small finance company using money he had borrowed, and today, he runs a big financial business that serves millions of people. His journey is truly inspiring.

After finishing school, Uday studied commerce at Sydenham College in Mumbai. Then he completed his post-graduate studies in management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

While many of his classmates took safe and high-paying jobs, Uday chose a different path. He wanted to start something of his own.

In 1985, he began a small finance company called Kotak Capital Management Finance Ltd. with Rs 30 lakh, borrowed from family and friends.

One of his early investors was Anand Mahindra, who later became the chairman of the Mahindra Group. The company focused on bill discounting at the beginning. Over time, it entered many other areas like car finance, stock broking, investment banking, and insurance.

In the year 2003, something big happened. His company got a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India. It became the first non-banking finance company in India to become a bank. The new bank was named Kotak Mahindra Bank. Uday became the Managing Director and CEO of the bank.

In the next few years, the bank grew very fast. It took full control of its car loan business and also added other businesses like mutual funds, life insurance, and stock market trading.

With early support from Anand Mahindra and a sharp eye for opportunity, Uday Kotak built one of India’s most trusted private banking brands

In 2014, Kotak Mahindra Bank merged with ING Vysya Bank in a deal worth about Rs 15,000 crore. This helped the bank grow quickly across India. By March 2024, Kotak Mahindra Bank had more than 1800 branches and over 3200 ATMs. It also opened offices in Dubai and a few other international business centres.

Besides the banking business, the Kotak group runs many other companies in areas like insurance, asset management, car loans, and microfinance. Together, these businesses operate from over 5000 locations across India.

The bank has started focusing more on digital banking in recent years. It launched Kotak 811, a digital savings account that allowed people to open an account without visiting a branch.

This move helped the bank double its number of customers in just two years. In September 2003 Uday Kotak stepped down as the Managing Director and CEO of the bank and Ashok Vaswani became the new CEO in January 2024.

Kotak also heads the asset management business of the group, which manages investments worth more than 18 billion US dollars.

Kotak Mahindra Bank is now one of the leading private banks in India. It offers many services such as savings and current accounts, home and car loans, insurance, mutual funds, and stock market trading. The bank is listed on both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

Uday Kotak stepped down as CEO in 2023, but continues to guide the company as a mentor

Uday Kotak has built a large business that employs over one lakh people and serves millions of customers across the country. Even though he has stepped away from daily management, he still guides the group. His son, Jay Kotak, is also involved in the business and looks after the digital banking area.

Uday Kotak continues to share his views on finance and policy through his Twitter handle, @udaykotak. He does not tweet often, but when he does, his short and thoughtful posts attract attention. In one widely discussed tweet, he wrote, “When countries manage macro badly, savers move to protect value of their savings. Traditionally it was gold. Now bitcoin too.” The post went viral and became a subject of discussion among netizens. – TWL Bureau