Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced the appointment of Anup Kumar Saha as its Whole-time Director, subject to regulatory approvals. Until the approvals are received, Saha will serve as Whole-time Director (Designate) and join the bank’s senior management effective January 12, 2026.
Saha most recently served as Managing Director at Bajaj Finance, where he spent over eight years playing a key role in transforming the lender into one of India’s most profitable non-banking financial companies. During his tenure, he led business transformation, digital innovation and customer-centric initiatives, helping expand the customer base to 100 million while diversifying the product portfolio. Prior to this, Saha spent 14 years at ICICI Bank in senior leadership roles, gaining deep experience in consumer banking, data analytics and digital transformation.
At Kotak, Saha will oversee Consumer Banking, Marketing and Data Analytics functions. Welcoming him, board chairman CS Rajan said his experience in scaling businesses and driving digital transformation would strengthen the bank’s leadership. Managing Director and CEO Ashok Vaswani said the appointment reflects Kotak’s focus on building a market-leading financial services franchise. Banking and financial services executives said the appointment is being closely watched in Kolkata, where demand for retail credit, digital banking and data-driven financial products continues to rise. Industry participants expect Kotak to leverage Saha’s retail finance expertise to deepen its footprint in eastern India, particularly across urban and semi-urban pockets of West Bengal.