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Meet the man who built India's third-largest bank worth 45,000 CR. 1. Born into a 60-member Gujarati joint family, Uday Kotak used to stay in a single house with his family, who shared one kitchen. He worked hard and studied master's at the University of Mumbai. After college, he had a job with a top MNC, but he had other plans. 🤔 2. He started working in his family's cotton fabrication business. The work was great, but there were only 16 shareholders. Decision-making took a long time, and Uday got frustrated. He wanted something where he would be the sole decision-maker. And then he had an idea. 💡 3. He started a bill discounting firm with a loan of Rs 30 lakhs. The idea was simple - He would buy unpaid invoices from the business with a discounted amount and later recover the invoice from the payee, allowing him to earn profits. In 1985, Uday started Kotak Financial Services. 🙌 4. His first client was Tata-owned Nelco, for which he discounted at 16% at a 12% cost of capital and earned a 4% spread. To boost business, he entered into a golden partnership with Anand Mahindra, investing Rs 1 lakh and becoming a partner. Kotak Financial Services became Kotak Mahindra Finance. ✅ 5. By 1987, Kotak Mahindra Finance had clocked Rs 26 lakhs in sales. It had expanded into car financing, but Uday realized there were no private Indian banks; only foreign banks and cartels existed. 1991 he took the historic step, and Kotak became the first Indian investment bank. 💪 6. The business was off to a flying start in 1996 when the mammoth Goldman Sachs partnered with them for Investment banking, brokerage, distribution, and M&A businesses. As it entered the asset management business in 1998, it touched a revenue of 168.9 CR. 💵 7. The business scaled to 500,000 customers in 40 locations in India, and Uday needed a bank. In February 2003, he got a commercial banking license from the RBI and made history by becoming the first person to convert an NBFC into a bank in India. Kotak Mahindra Bank was born. 🚀 8. Within seven years, Kotak Mahindra Bank had scaled to deposits worth 23,886 CR and netted 1307 CR in profits. However, their major break came four years later when they acquired the 80-year-old ING Vysya bank at 15,000 CR. With 1241 branches, it became the fourth-largest bank in India. 📉 9. Even after dominating the physical space, Uday realized the changing trend to online transactions and launched the first zero-balance virtual account, Kotak811, in 2017. Kotak Mahindra Bank continued its net profit run with Rs 6201 CR by 2018. 💰 10. Today, Kotak Mahindra Bank has 1780 branches, 2963 ATMs and deposits worth 4,45,268 CR. With 5.1 CR customers, it is India's third-largest private Indian bank, worth 45000 CR. 🙌 Who would have thought that a person staying in a single house with 60 people would one day become worth 115,000 CR? 💪