India’s banking sector is witnessing a fresh wave of leadership transitions
After a series of churns among bank chief financial officers (CFOs) in June, India’s banking sector is witnessing a fresh wave of leadership transitions, with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB) announcing the immediate exit of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sanjeev Nautiyal, on health grounds, while Kotak Mahindra Bank has reportedly initiated the process of identifying a successor to CEO Ashok Vaswani.Ujjivan SFB’s board approved Nautiyal’s request for early retirement after he cited health reasons. Though he will formally retire on November 30, 2026, he ceased to be the bank’s MD & CEO from September 1. The lender has appointed Executive Director Carol Furtado as Acting MD & CEO, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while it begins the search for a permanent replacement.Leadership transitionNautiyal joined Ujjivan SFB as MD & CEO in July 2024 after a distinguished career spanning more than three decades in banking. Before moving to Ujjivan, he held several senior positions at State Bank of India, including Deputy Managing Director for Financial Inclusion and Micro Markets, and later served as Managing Director & CEO of SBI Life Insurance.Meanwhile, Kotak Mahindra Bank is also said to have submitted the names of two internal candidates, Paritosh Kashyap and Anup Saha, to the RBI as potential successors to Ashok Vaswani, whose term ends on December 31, 2026. Vaswani has indicated that he will not seek reappointment, citing personal reasons.Paritosh Kashyap, currently Whole-Time Director and head of wholesale banking, is among the Kotak Group’s longest-serving executives, having spent around 31 years with the institution. He has worked across corporate banking, structured finance, infrastructure financing and capital markets, making him a strong continuity candidate for the top job. Anup Saha, who heads retail banking and serves as Whole-Time Director, joined Kotak in January 2026 after leading Bajaj Finance. Prior to that, he spent several years at ICICI Bank.Internal candidates“Management changes are not new, but the coincidence of top leadership transitions at two private sector banks and a small finance bank does raise some concerns about the continuity of strategic direction. However, strong internal candidates are available to step into these roles. Additionally, robust industry-wide advances growth and benign asset quality leave little uncertainty about the near-term business performance of these banks,” said Siddharth Rajpurohit, Lead Banking Analyst at Systematix Institutional Equities.Last week, HDFC Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sashidhar Jagdishan announced that he would not seek an extension beyond his current term, which ends in October 2026.Published on September 1, 2026
