Who is Anup Kumar Saha, Kotak Mahindra Bank's next MD & CEO?

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Thursday said the Reserve Bank of India has approved the appointment of Anup Kumar Saha as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2027.

The approval was conveyed to the bank on September 30, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

The appointment comes as incumbent MD and CEO Ashok Vaswani's term is set to end on December 31, 2026. Vaswani took charge of Kotak Mahindra Bank in January 2024.

“Anup is a seasoned financial services leader with deep experience across businesses, customer segments and operating functions. Since joining Kotak, he has worked closely with our teams and demonstrated a clear understanding of the opportunities ahead,” Vaswani said in a statement.

Who is Anup Saha?

Anup Saha, 57, is currently a Whole-time Director (Executive Director) at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

He joined the bank in January 2026 and has been overseeing its retail banking, government business, data analytics and marketing functions since March.

Saha joined the financial services sector in the late 1990s after starting his career in engineering.

He worked with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd between 1991 and 1995 in production engineering, following a brief stint in consumer durable sales.

He then moved to GE Capital in 1999, where he worked on credit cards, sales and analytics until 2003.

Saha spent the next 14 years at ICICI Bank, joining the lender in May 2003 and holding several senior positions until June 2017.

At ICICI Bank, he led businesses and functions including retail secured assets, business intelligence, retail and rural collections, credit cards and retail structured finance. He also served as a nominee director of the bank on the boards of TransUnion CIBIL Ltd and ICICI Home Finance Ltd.

Before joining Kotak Mahindra Bank, Saha was associated with Bajaj Finance from October 2017 to January 2026, where he held several senior positions.

Saha holds a B.Tech degree in engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow.