Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director and CEO Ashok Vaswani said that the lender will name his successor within the timelines prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India, as the bank navigates a leadership transition following his decision not to seek a second term.
"Resigned for personal reasons," Vaswani told NDTV Profit of his decision to step down, adding that "the board, NRC will file for new CEO appointment soon." He said the bank would complete the process "within timelines set by RBI."
Vaswani also reflected on his tenure at the helm, saying he had "done heavy lifting over the last few years." He pointed to lifting the RBI's embargo on the bank, setting up a new management team, and cleaning up the unsecured loan book as key achievements during his term.
On FCNR-B Deposits
On the bank's FCNR-B deposit scheme, Vaswani said he could not disclose an internal target for inflows but was optimistic about the response so far. "Feel good about FCNR-B deposits, will track inflows over one-two months," he said.
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He added that the bank is "offering leverage based on the size of the FCNR-B deposit," and that the scheme would help elongate the tenure of its deposit book, which he described as "relatively short tenor" at present.
On Margins And Lending
Vaswani said net interest margin has been "range bound over the last few quarters." He also said the bank had disbursed Rs 3,000 crore of loans under the ECLGS 5.0 scheme.
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The Numbers Behind The Commentary
The comments came as Kotak Mahindra Bank reported a 26% year-on-year rise in standalone net profit to Rs 4,123 crore for the June quarter, ahead of the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 3,975 crore. Net interest income rose 9.2% to Rs 7,928 crore, while operating profit climbed 10.2% to Rs 6,131 crore.
Asset quality held broadly steady: gross NPA improved to 1.18% of advances from 1.20% in the preceding quarter, while net NPA ticked up marginally to 0.27% from 0.25%. Provisions fell sharply from a year earlier to Rs 668 crore, from Rs 1,208 crore, though they rose sequentially from Rs 516 crore in the March quarter.
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