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Gujarat names Uday Kotak chairman of Gift city
Veteran banker replaces Hasmukh Adhia amid renewed push for offshore finance
GUJARAT: The Gujarat government has appointed veteran banker Uday Kotak as chairman of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, commonly known as Gift City, replacing former bureaucrat Hasmukh Adhia.
The appointment comes as Gift City sharpens its push to attract global capital with liberalised tax and regulatory norms, positioning itself as a rival to financial centres such as Singapore and Dubai.
Earlier this month, the Centre doubled the tax holiday for entities setting up operations in Gift City to 20 years, a move aimed at accelerating offshore banking, fund management and capital market activity within the zone.
Uday Kotak brings more than four decades of experience in India’s financial sector to the role. He is the founder and former managing director and chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank, which he established in 1985 as a modest bill-discounting business. Over time, the firm evolved into a diversified financial services group, spanning banking, capital markets, asset management and insurance. In 2003, it made history by becoming the first non-banking financial company in India to convert into a commercial bank. Kotak currently serves as a non-executive director on the bank’s board.
Kotak’s career is widely seen as one of the most notable entrepreneurial success stories in India’s financial services industry. In the early 1990s, Kotak Finance expanded into auto loans, investment banking and stockbroking, riding the momentum of India’s economic liberalisation in 1991. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kotak did not hail from a prominent business family nor did he have the backing of deep-pocketed institutional investors, making the firm’s early expansion particularly arduous.
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YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
