1985–2002: Kotak Mahindra Finance In 1985,
Uday Kotak founded Kotak Capital Management Finance Limited as a financial services company with a loan of 30
lakh from family and friends. In 1986,
Anand Mahindra and his father Harish Mahindra invested 1 lakh in the company which was subsequently renamed Kotak Mahindra Finance. The company was initially engaged in bill discounting, along with
lease and
hire purchase activities. In the early 1990s, the company started offering
car financing and
investment banking services and expanded its operations overseas. In 1996, car financing company Kotak Mahindra Primus was incorporated as a 60:40
joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Finance and
Ford Credit International. In the same year, Kotak Mahindra Finance hived off its investment banking division into a new company, Kotak Mahindra Capital, started in partnership with
Goldman Sachs. In 1998, Kotak Mahindra Finance started its
mutual fund arm called Kotak Mahindra AMC. In 2001, OM Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance was established as a 74:26 joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Finance and
Old Mutual.
2003–present: Kotak Mahindra Bank . In February 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance received a
banking licence from the
Reserve Bank of India, becoming India's first
non-banking finance company to be converted into a
bank. Kotak Mahindra Finance was then renamed Kotak Mahindra Bank. At the time,
Uday Kotak had a 56% stake in the company while
Anand Mahindra held a 5% stake. In 2005, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired Ford Credit's 40% stake in Kotak Mahindra Primus, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of the group. Kotak Mahindra Primus was subsequently renamed as Kotak Mahindra Prime. In 2006, Kotak Mahindra Bank bought out Goldman Sachs' 25% stake in Kotak Mahindra Capital for and 25% in Kotak Securities for , turning both companies into its wholly owned subsidiaries. In 2014, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired a 15% stake in
Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) from
Financial Technologies Group for to become the company's largest shareholder. In 2014, Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the acquisition of
ING Vysya Bank in a deal valued at . With the merger completed in 2015, Kotak Mahindra Bank had almost 40,000 employees, and the number of branches reached 1,261. After the merger,
ING Group, which controlled ING Vysya Bank, obtained a 6.5% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank. In 2015,
Kotak Mahindra General Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, started operations after receiving
IRDAI's approval. In 2016,
Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank started an 80:20
joint venture called
Airtel Payments Bank. In 2016, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired BSS Microfinance for . In March 2017, Kotak Mahindra Bank launched an
online savings account called Kotak 811, named after the date Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had announced
demonetisation in the previous year (8 November), which according to Uday Kotak was "the day that changed India." Kotak 811 helped the bank double its number of customers by September 2018. In April 2017, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired Old Mutual's 26% stake in
Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance for , making the life insurance company its wholly owned subsidiary. In 2021, Kotak Mahindra Bank sold its 8.57% stake in Airtel Payments Bank to
Bharti Enterprises for . In the same year, Kotak Mahindra Group acquired the vehicle financing portfolio of
Volkswagen Finance India and passenger vehicle financing portfolio of
Ford Credit India. In 2022, it acquired the agriculture and healthcare equipment financing portfolio of
DLL India. In 2023, Kotak Mahindra Bank acquired microfinancier Sonata Finance for . In February 2024,
Zurich Insurance Group announced its acquisition of a 70% stake in
Kotak Mahindra General Insurance for . == Subsidiaries and associates ==