Kotak Mahindra Bank mulls hiving Kotak 811 as subsidiary

Highly placed sources say Kotak 811 may undergo some modifications to be rehauled into a payment interface and system. The billionaire banker Uday Kotak’s son Jay Kotak, who is currently a Vice-President at the bank and Co-head of Kotak 811, may head the subsidiary.

“The move will put to rest some of the succession related issues across various business units and fortify Kotak Bank’s position in the payments space,” said a highly placed source who didn’t want to be named.

An e-mail sent to the bank regarding the matter remained unanswered.

It is learnt that the once Kotak 811 is made into a subsidiary, it would approach the regulator for payment aggregator/payments gateway (PA/PG) licenses. Also, the digital platform which is already available to non-Kotak Bank customers will aggressively extend financial services in the payments space to the public at large.

“Work in this regard commenced some time last year and the bank may reach out to the regulator in a few months with the proposal,” said another person aware of the matter. Kotak 811 is presently a business unit of the bank’s retail arm.