Kotak Mahindra Bank eyes East, West Asia

Kotak Mahindra Bank is looking at increasing its presence in the Middle East and the Far Eastern countries, including Japan.

The bank, which currently has 84 branches across the country, is also planning to increase its total number of branches to 110 by the end of the current financial year.

"The Middle East and Far Eastern countries hold a significant potential for banking services and hence we are looking at leveraging our presence, especially in Japan, by opening offices and subsidiaries in those regions. Money is not a constraint as far as our overseas expansion plans is concerned as we are comfortable with the $100 million funds raised through a GDS in April 06. However, we are considering raising about Rs 300 crore tier-II capital in a few months, to meet our future capital requirements," Uday Kotak, vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

Kotak currently has offices in New York, London, Dubai and Mauritius. "We currently employ 10,000 people in our various businesses and are planning to add 5,000 employees this year. Plans are also afoot to scale up our branch network to 110 from the existing 84 by the end of March 2007," he added.

Uday Kotak was addressing a press conference to announce his induction into the executive board of Indian School of Business.

"My contribution as a member of executive board will be through a two-way flow of people, and to work towards enhancing ISB's position as a global business school," he said.