Kotak Mahindra Bank is assessing Deutsche Bank’s retail business in India, while confirming it is no longer pursuing IDBI Bank, citing valuation concerns and the size of the deal.
Speaking at an earnings press conference, Kotak Mahindra Bank MD & CEO Ashok Vaswani said the bank would consider acquisitions only if they satisfied three conditions: strategic fit, financial viability and execution that would not overstretch management capacity.
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He said the same framework would be used for any transaction under review.
Referring to IDBI Bank, Vaswani said Kotak had examined the opportunity from all valuation angles.
“Obviously it was very highly valued. Of course, it has some kind of scale but it wasn’t really a must for us to do. Obviously, it would have been a difficult thing to swallow,” he said.
The government is considering how to restart the process to sell its holding in IDBI Bank, along with LIC’s stake.
That divestment exercise was abandoned in March 2026 after the bids received did not meet the government’s reserve price.
Fairfax Financial and Emirates NBD were seen as the leading contenders for a controlling stake in the lender.
Earlier reports had said Kotak Mahindra Bank was the preferred bidder for Deutsche Bank’s retail operations in India.
Economic Times reported in March that the transaction, valued at around Rs 45bn ($480m), according to sources.
Kotak is understood to have offered more than Federal Bank for the assets. Bloomberg had reported in January that Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank had submitted binding bids for the portfolio.
