Uday Kotak is planning to pare down his stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank, CNBC-TV18 has learnt. According to the sources, talks are on with large foreign institutional investors for promoters' stake sale to pare down anywhere between 5 percent and 10 percent in the bank.

Kotak is trying to close the deal as soon as possible and the it may be completed by the year-end or so, they say. According to the RBI regulation, a promoter can hold up to 20 percent stake. As of September, Kotak held close to 30 percent stake. Uday Kotak had challenged RBI’s objection to issue of preferential shares for promoter equity dilution. However, that the matter is still subjudiced and RBI has also levied a penalty of Rs 2 crore for non-compliance.

However, the bank's management in a response said that as the matter is subjudice, they will not make comment on it.

Kotak is considering to create a holding company model as the alternative plan. Under the holding company model, the bank and its subsidiaries can be transferred to a holding company and therefore, the stake will come down.

RBI’s guidelines allow banks in the private sector to form an non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) where an NOFHC can hold the stake in the bank, as well as, its other financial entities such as insurance, mutual funds(MFs), etc.

First Published:Dec 20, 2019 12:29 PM IST