Kotak Mahindra Bank To Hire 400 Engineers In Tech Ramp-up Amid Regulatory Crackdown: Report

Kotak Mahindra Bank is set to expand its technology workforce by hiring around 400 engineers this year, according to a Bloomberg report. 

The move comes as part of the bank’s effort to upgrade its technological infrastructure following regulatory actions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which recently imposed restrictions on the bank’s digital operations.

The bank has been under the regulator’s lens for lapses in its technology systems. In response, the bank has significantly increased its technology spending by more than 30 per cent to Rs 17 billion (USD 204 million) in the fiscal year ended 31 March. This amount represents about 10 per cent of the bank’s operating expenses, as detailed by Kotak’s CEO Ashok Vaswani during a press briefing.

Milind Nagnur, Kotak’s Chief Technology Officer, told Bloomberg that the bank has already onboarded over 500 engineers in the past two years from top firms including Google and Amazon, as well as from leading fintech companies like Paytm and PhonePe. Nagnur, who also took on the role of Chief Operating Officer recently, stressed on the bank’s commitment to doubling its efforts in enhancing technological capabilities, especially in areas like cybersecurity and backend resilience.

The RBI had imposed a ban on the bank last month, preventing it from acquiring new customers through digital channels and issuing new credit cards, citing deficiencies in data security, leak prevention and vendor risk management among others. This has pushed Kotak Mahindra to focus on strengthening its governance and risk management to address the concerns raised by the regulator.