“Personal loans are absolutely fine, and credit card issues should start to come down,” Vaswani said.
FY25 was Vaswani’s first full financial year at Kotak, during which the bank worked to shift from a product-centric to a customer-centric strategy. A key achievement was lifting the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) technology embargo before the year-end.
“We worked closely with the RBI and internal teams to resolve the issues,” Vaswani said.
While the microfinance (MFI) portfolio faced challenges, leading to elevated credit costs and weighing on FY25 results, Vaswani noted that exposure has been reduced to 1.6% of net advances from 2.5% of total assets.
On the capital market side, Kotak benefited from strong market conditions, with its capital markets and asset management businesses performing well. The bank’s book value per share (BVPS) rose 21% in FY25, Vaswani added.
Post-embargo, the bank has strengthened its digital capabilities and rolled out targeted products for affluent customers, including the soft launch of its “Solitaire” offering.
“Our group brand campaign was also an important event for us,” Vaswani said.
Looking ahead, the CEO expressed optimism for FY26 but said the bank remains alert to global risks, including potential tariff moves by US President Donald Trump and geopolitical issues in India.
