Kotak Mahindra Bank announced that Anup Kumar Saha has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for a three‑year term commencing 1 January 2027. The approval was communicated to the bank on 30 September, as disclosed in a regulatory filing. Saha will succeed Ashok Vaswani, whose term ends on 31 December 2026, after Vaswani took charge in January 2024.

In a statement, Ashok Vaswani praised Saha as a seasoned financial services leader with deep experience across businesses, customer segments and operating functions. He noted that since joining Kotak in January 2026, Saha has worked closely with the bank’s teams and demonstrated a clear understanding of the opportunities ahead.

Anup Saha, 57, is currently a Whole‑time Director (Executive Director) at Kotak Mahindra Bank. He joined the bank in January 2026 and has been overseeing its retail banking, government business, data analytics and marketing functions since March. Prior to Kotak, he spent 14 years at ICICI Bank, holding senior roles in retail secured assets, business intelligence, retail and rural collections, credit cards and retail structured finance.

Before ICICI, Saha worked with GE Capital from 1999 to 2003 on credit cards, sales and analytics, and earlier he was in production engineering at Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd between 1991 and 1995 and had a brief stint in consumer durable sales. He also served as a nominee director of ICICI Home Finance Ltd and on the board of TransUnion CIBIL Ltd during his tenure at ICICI.

Saha joined Bajaj Finance in October 2017 and remained there until January 2026, holding several senior positions. He holds a B.Tech degree in engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow, underscoring his technical and managerial credentials that have guided his progression through diverse financial services roles across sectors.