Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the appointment of Anup Kumar Saha as its next Managing Director and CEO after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved his appointment for a three-year term starting January 1, 2027.

Saha, currently a whole-time director and executive director at Kotak Mahindra Bank, will take over from Ashok Vaswani. The bank said the board will take further steps to formalise the appointment and seek shareholders’ approval.

The appointment comes as Kotak, India's fourth-largest private bank, looks to sustain its growth momentum. Reuters had reported last month that the bank had submitted the names of Saha and fellow executive director Paritosh Kashyap to the RBI for consideration for the CEO position.

Also read: Kotak Mahindra Bank appoints Anup Kumar Saha as new MD and CEO

Saha joined Kotak Mahindra Bank in January 2026 and was appointed whole-time director in March. He currently oversees the bank's retail banking, government business, data analytics and marketing functions.

Saha has more than 32 years of professional experience, including 25 years across banking and non-banking financial services. Before joining Kotak, he spent more than seven years at Bajaj Finance, where he rose through a series of senior leadership positions.

He joined Bajaj Finance in October 2017 as President–Consumer Finance. He subsequently served as Deputy CEO, Executive Director and Deputy Managing Director before becoming Managing Director and CEO in April 2025. He resigned from the position in July 2025.

At Bajaj Finance, his responsibilities spanned the company's standalone business during his executive directorship roles. His experience there included consumer finance, MSME, marketing, operations, service and digital platforms.

Before Bajaj Finance, Saha spent 14 years at ICICI Bank between May 2003 and June 2017. During his stint there, he held senior roles across retail secured assets, business intelligence, retail and rural collections, credit cards and retail structured finance. He also served as a nominee director of ICICI Bank on the boards of TransUnion CIBIL and ICICI Home Finance.

Saha began his career at Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, where he worked in production engineering from 1991 to 1995, following a brief stint in consumer durable sales. He later worked at GE Capital from 1999 to 2003, handling credit cards, sales and analytics.

He holds a BTech degree in engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow.

At Kotak, Saha is now set to move into the top job less than a year after joining the bank. In its announcement, Kotak highlighted his experience across banking and financial services and his involvement with the bank's businesses in his current role.

Saha said he would focus on deepening customer relationships, execution and building sustainable value for shareholders and other stakeholders.