In 1985 by Uday Kotak established what became an Indian financial services conglomerate. In February 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL), the Group's flagship company, received a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, KMFL became the first non-banking finance company in India to be converted into a bank – Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL). In a study by Brand Finance Banking 500, published in February 2014 by the Banker magazine (from The Financial Times Stable), KMBL was ranked 245th among the world's top 500 banks with brand valuation of around half a billion dollars ($481 million) and brand rating of AA+ and merge with ING Vysya bank in 2015.
Presently, Kotak Mahindra Bank is an Indian private sector bank headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. In February 2003, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave the licence to Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd., the group's flagship company, to carry on banking business. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services for corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialized subsidiaries in the areas of personal finance, investment banking, life insurance, and wealth management. Kotak Mahindra Bank has a network of 1,369 branches across 689 locations and 2,163 ATMs in the country (as of 31 March, 2017). In 2016, it was the fourth largest private bank in India by market capitalization.
In 2014, Kotak Bank acquired ING Vysya Bank in a deal valued at ₹15,000 crore (US$2.3 billion). With the merger, total employment will jump to almost 40,000, and the count of branches reached 1261. Post the merger, ING Group, which controlled ING Vysya Bank, will own a 7% share in Kotak Mahindra Bank.