Billionaire Uday Kotak all set to get richer after RBI relaxes stock holding rules

• Billionaire Uday Kotak is all set to get wealthier after he ended a long-pending issue with the country’s banking regulator RBI.
  
• The latter finally allowed them to keep 26% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank, though it curtailed the voting rights of the founding family.
  
• As of today, the shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were already trading 4% higher in the morning and the business is valued at ₹3.23 lakh crore.
  

Billionaire Uday Kotak is all set to get wealthier after he ended a long-pending issue with the country’s banking regulator RBI. The latter finally allowed them to keep 26% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank, though it curtailed the voting rights of the founding family.

Voting rights however will not have an effect on his stake in the bank which has been one of the best performing stocks in the last few years. As of today, the shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were already trading 4% higher in the morning and the business is valued at ₹3,2 lakh crore.

The family also has six months time to offload some of its stake to meet RBI guidelines, as they now hold 29.9%. “Promoters’ shareholding in the Bank to be reduced to 26% of PUVESC of the Bank within six months from the date of final approval of the RBI,” said a company statement on BSE.

According to Forbes, Kotak now has a networth of $15 billion as of January 31,2020.

Kotak has fewer legal problems at hand too as he withdrew a case concerning dilution of his stake, in Bombay High Court. The legal troubles started over a decade back in 2008. Then, Kotak was given a six month deadline to take action against his shareholding in the bank as per changed regulations.

Kotak tried to do so by issuing preference shares worth $7million and retaining his stake. The RBI was unhappy with it, and the case landed in courts.

Kotak has been gaining in spite of the war with the regulator. His net worth has been zooming ahead after the bank acquired ING Vysya Bank for $2.4 billion. Not only did it boost the bank’s market value, it also left him with a lion’s share of a larger pie.

His net worth grew by a whopping 268% from $3 billion in 2010 to $11.8 billion in 2019. Most of this came from his shareholding in Kotak Mahindra Bank. And now, it looks like that is secure.

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