Born on March 15, 1959 in Mumbai, Uday Suresh Kotak, popularly known as Uday Kotak, is India’s richest banker and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Belonging to an upper-middle class family, during his school days, he discovered two talents — cricket (he played ‘Kagna League’ during his college days) and math, as he always has been comfortable with numbers. His second talent determined his career path.
In March 2003, became the first non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India to receive a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In 2014, Uday’s wealth almost doubled as the shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank hit its highest ever mark. Hurun Global Rich List 2022 ranked Uday Kotak as Asia’s third-richest banker. His current net worth is $14.8 billion.
In 2019, Kotak was one of the most highly paid CEOs of Indian banks, with a monthly salary of Rs 27 lakh.
Here are some inspiring advice and insights by Uday Kotak for young entrepreneurs:
Uday Kotak addressing the students of IIMB
“I am a great believer in Indian entrepreneurship. There is a whole set of people doing so many exciting things.”
“I am a believer in the journey and enjoying the journey.”
“Indian entrepreneurship, Indian cinema, Indian art, Indian literature, etc are being uplifted by modern concepts. Everyone is coming up with novice and upgraded themes. We must study everything and invent something which is our discovery.”
“Strategies are executed efficiently if communication happens constantly.”
“In a marathon, if you run too fast, you get exhausted. If you run too slow, you never make it.”
“We need to constantly keep walking on a strenuous path and expand our business. If the business becomes huge, lakhs of people will get a source of income and they will devote their life to provide service to mankind.”
“Discussions and opinions can help us think in various directions and give us an idea of various dimensions. Accepting every suggestion but retaining our opinion is the real identity of a leader.”
“Things change so fast, you can’t afford to be complacent.”
"I am a big believer that increasing the size of the cake is at least as important as the distribution of the cake. To increase the size of the cake, you need to focus on progress."
“Growth should take care of the fear of job losses. People will be challenged to do different things. For people who are not up to it, purely based on objective assessment, that's a different issue, which you do anyway.”
"When a lion doesn't get its prey, it remains hungry. When the prey saves himself, he has not won, but has saved his life."
Edited by Kanishk Singh