Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday while announcing the results for the quarter ending March 31, 2024 said that the bank’s focus is on customers, and that it is worried about the reputational risk more than that of the impact of its finance.
While announcing the results, MD and CEO, Ashok Vaswani, CFO, Devang Gheewalla, and President – Consumer Banking, Shanti Ekambaram addressed the media.
On the recent RBI action on the bank, it said that there is absolutely no impact on the existing customers, and they are in constant touch with the regulator to lift the embargo.
“We are seeing guidance from the regulator and totally committed to resolve the issue and meet the standard,” the MD and CEO said.
Further, he said that the bank is on an upgradation journey and have strengthened the IT team by hiring tech talent.
“Our tech expense is 10% of operating expense,” he told.
“We have been investing in IT and complying with the norm, but it is evident that our efforts are fallen short,” he said.
The MD and CEO further said, “I have been in the system for the last 4 month, barely 120 days. We have prepared a strategy on where Kotak could be going.”
“Keeping a direction that we are setting is clear, and our focus is customer,” he added.
Talking on India’s growth journey, he said, “There are various factors that is making India a great country. Digital Infrastructure and cost of telepathy of digital data are the key.”
The bank reported an 18% growth in standalone net profit at Rs 4,133 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.
The private sector lender posted a profit of Rs 3,496 crore while its total income rose to Rs 15,285 crore from Rs 12,007 crore in the year-ago period.
