Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank’s next chief executive is an early starter who prefers short meetings, readily switches to Hindi and likes to know what is happening on the ground. Former colleagues say Anup Kumar Saha’s unassuming manner is matched by a sharp head for numbers and a particular strength in turning strategy into execution.

The transition from the urbane, internationally experienced Ashok Vaswani to the grounded, straightforward Saha will bring a different personal style to Kotak’s leadership.

The 56-year-old will take over as managing director and chief executive on January 1, 2027, for a three-year term.

Also Read | Who is Anup Kumar Saha, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s new CEO?

People who have reported to Saha rate him highly as a business operator. His strength, they say, is the effort he puts into understanding an assignment, the depth of his questions and his ability to connect the numbers with what is happening in the business.

“Whatever you put him in charge of, he will go deep. He will take the effort to know what is happening on the ground,” said an official who has worked with him."

Another official described him as comfortable with his roots and quick to switch to Hindi. Colleagues recall an executive who arrives early at the office, has little appetite for lengthy meetings and wants a clear understanding of the matter at hand. His attention to detail, they say, makes it difficult to get a superficial explanation past him.

Also Read | Kotak Mahindra Bank gets RBI nod to appoint Anup Saha as MD & CEO

Since joining Kotak in January, Saha has also made an effort to get to know junior members of his team, according to people familiar with his working style. The hands-on approach is consistent with the way former colleagues describe him: business-focused, direct and willing to invest time in understanding operations.

His career began far from banking. A metallurgy graduate from IIT Kharagpur’s 1991 batch, Saha started as a production engineer at Bharat Heavy Electricals. He completed his postgraduate management qualification at IIM Lucknow in 1997, worked at consumer durables company Blow Plast and subsequently moved into financial services, with roles at SBI Cards and GE Capital.

He spent 14 years at ICICI Bank, where his responsibilities included retail secured lending, credit cards, collections and business intelligence, before joining Bajaj Finance in 2017. At the non-bank lender, he held successive leadership roles across consumer finance and other businesses, rising to managing director in April 2025. He resigned in July that year, citing personal reasons.

After a gap of 6 months he surprised the market when Kotak announced his appointment as whole-time director on January 12 this year. People who know him say he took a spiritual break in the interval between leaving Bajaj Finance and joining Kotak.

His simple personal style sits alongside a strong belief in technology. Colleagues say Saha sees its use as a key differentiator between companies. That conviction has a long professional history: at ICICI Bank, he spearheaded sales customer-relationship management and big-data transformation projects. At Kotak, his current responsibilities span retail banking, data analytics and marketing.

For the incoming chief, the task will be to bring those strands together: use technology to strengthen the franchise while maintaining the close understanding of customers, teams and operations that former colleagues identify as his strength.

At 56, Saha could have time beyond his initial term to pursue longer-term changes, subject to future board and RBI approvals. Analysts say his first task will be to hold the senior team together through the leadership transition. He will also need to accelerate loan and deposit growth, put more of Kotak’s capital to work and improve its return on equity.

Building a broader deposit base is another priority. Analysts want the bank to reduce its reliance on large deposits by attracting more granular balances.

They also expect Saha to shorten decision-making and customer turnaround times while taking a calibrated approach to risk. His experience running higher-yielding consumer finance businesses at Bajaj Finance could help him strike that balance.