Cricket field to banking marathon

Uday Kotak may have quit the corner office at Kotak Mahindra Bank, but it's clear he'll keep an 'Arjuna's eye' on the institution he created

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IN AN INTERVIEW to CNBC TV18 shortly after his sudden decision on Saturday to step down as managing director & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), Uday Kotak said,"what you create must outlive you." He has already ensured it in more ways than one. In less than four decades, the institution, which started as a small bill-discounting outfit  a 300 sq ft office space at Mumbai's Navsari Building, has transformed into India's third largest private sector bank. And it will fittingly continue to be known by his famous surname.

Kotak, 64, who started his business journey with ₹30 lakh as capital, has now become the richest banker in Asia by virtue of owning 26% stake in the bank, which was valued at over ₹3.5 trillion as of Friday's close. That's a phenomenal distance covered - all within one generation.

But the man had originally wanted to cover only the 22 yards of a cricket pitch. A right-hand batsman and left-arm spinner, he played the Kanga League in Mumbai and was dreaming of bigger things in the game. But in September 1979, an accident led to brain haemorrhage and signalled the end of what he had thought was a promising cricketing career.