Why HDFC, Kotak Turned To ICICI Veterans For Their Top Jobs

Two of India’s large private-sector banks have turned to executives with a common career link as they navigate leadership transitions. HDFC Bank has appointed Anup Bagchi as its next MD & CEO, while Kotak Mahindra Bank has named Anup Kumar Saha for the same role. Both appointments have received Reserve Bank of India approval.

Bagchi will take charge at HDFC Bank from October 27, succeeding Sashidhar Jagdishan, while Saha will take over at Kotak from January 1, 2027, succeeding Ashok Vaswani. The common thread is their experience at ICICI, but both executives also bring leadership stints at other financial institutions. Their career paths offer a useful lens into the experience the two banks are bringing to the top of their organisations.

The ICICI Training Ground

Bagchi spent 34 years with the ICICI Group after joining in 1992. His career covered several parts of financial services, including treasury, retail banking, wholesale banking, investment banking and digital financial services.

He was MD & CEO of ICICI Securities from 2011 to 2016. He then moved to ICICI Bank as executive director, where he served from 2017 to 2023. According to HDFC Bank’s profile, he first oversaw Retail, Business and Rural Banking and later Wholesale Banking.

That gave Bagchi experience across both individual and corporate-facing businesses. During his ICICI Bank tenure, he played a role in strengthening the retail franchise while maintaining credit and cost discipline. HDFC Bank says that under Bagchi’s leadership, ICICI Bank became the first private-sector bank in India to surpass a retail mortgage portfolio of ₹2 trillion and navigated the demonetisation period with limited business disruption.

Saha spent 14 years at ICICI Bank, from May 2003 to June 2017. His roles included retail secured assets, business intelligence, retail and rural collections, credit cards and retail structured finance, according to Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The two careers were not identical, but both involved exposure to multiple businesses rather than a single banking function.

From Banking To The CEO’s Chair

Their careers after ICICI add another layer to the appointments.

Bagchi became MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life in June 2023, after his long stint in the ICICI Group. Under his leadership, the insurer’s annualised premium equivalent crossed ₹10,000 crore for the first time in FY25, reaching ₹10,407 crore, while profit after tax rose nearly 40% to ₹1,189 crore, according to HDFC Bank.

Saha moved from ICICI Bank to Bajaj Finance in 2017 and rose through senior roles before becoming its MD & CEO in April 2025. He had earlier handled consumer finance and later portfolios spanning consumer, MSME, marketing, operations, service and digital platforms. Kotak says he has more than 32 years of professional experience, including 25 years in financial services.

He joined Kotak as a whole-time director in January 2026 and has overseen Consumer Banking, Marketing and Data Analytics. His elevation to the CEO role therefore came less than a year after joining the bank.

HDFC And Kotak Are Taking Different Routes

The succession process at the two banks also shows that the appointments were not simply a matter of choosing the most senior internal executive.

HDFC Bank had recommended deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha as its first preference to the RBI, ahead of Bagchi, who was the external candidate, The Economic Times reported. Bharucha has been a whole-time director since June 2014 and would reach the RBI’s 15-year ceiling on continuous tenure as a whole-time director, MD or CEO in June 2029.

The RBI ultimately approved Bagchi’s appointment, making him the first outsider to lead the bank since its establishment in 1994.

Kotak, meanwhile, had recommended Anup Saha and Paritosh Kashyap, its executive director and head of wholesale banking, to the RBI for the top position, with Saha as its first choice and Kashyap as the second candidate, The Economic Times reported.

The contrast is significant for the succession story. HDFC brought in an external executive with a long record across banking and insurance, while Kotak selected an executive who had only recently joined but arrived with senior leadership experience from ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance.

Why Experience Across Banking Matters Now

The common element in the two appointments is therefore broader than the ICICI tag. Both executives have worked across different financial businesses, customer segments and functions, and both have held leadership roles outside ICICI.

For HDFC Bank, Bagchi brings experience across retail and wholesale banking, capital markets and insurance, as well as a recent stint running a listed life insurer. For Kotak, Saha brings a combination of retail finance, analytics, digital and consumer-lending experience from ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance, along with his brief exposure to Kotak’s own operations.

The two appointments do not mean the banks followed the same succession route. HDFC chose an external candidate after considering an internal senior executive, while Kotak elevated a recent entrant over another internal candidate.

What connects the choices is the kind of experience represented by Bagchi and Saha: long exposure to financial services, experience across businesses and prior responsibility for large, complex operations. Their ICICI backgrounds form a common thread, but their subsequent careers show that the two banks were not simply hiring former ICICI executives. They were bringing in leaders with experience that extends beyond one institution.