Kotak Bank set to acquire Deutsche’s retail business in Rs 4,500-crore deal

Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank is one step closer to acquiring the India retail business of Deutsche Bank in a deal valued at about Rs 4,500 crore after being selected as the preferred buyer, multiple people familiar with the matter told ET.

A deal is expected to be signed and announced as early as next week, they said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are private.

The proposed acquisition comprises a retail loan and deposit book of about Rs 27,000 crore. This includes personal and home loans, MSME lending, retail deposits and wealth management assets.

The wealth management business is estimated at around Rs 7,000 crore, while the bulk of the portfolio is driven by retail and MSME loans. Emails sent to both Kotak Bank and Deutsche Bank remained unanswered until press time Sunday. The net value of assets over liabilities in the portfolio of Deutsche Bank’s India unit is around Rs 4,300 crore.

A Niche Presence

Kotak is expected to pay a slight premium to this, translating into a consideration of about Rs 4,500 crore, after outbidding Federal Bank, which had also been in contention, people cited above said. Final numbers for the deal may be subject to adjustments at closing, they added. Deutsche Bank’s India unit, with a network of about 17 branches, has built a niche presence among affluent clients.
Its retail segment generated a revenue of Rs 2,455 crore in the year ended March 2025, up 4% from Rs 2,362 crore in FY24. Its retail banking business held total assets of Rs 25,038 crore as of March 2025, according to latest disclosures.For Kotak, the acquisition would deepen its retail franchise, adding scale in loans and deposits while strengthening its presence in the MSME segment and wealth management. The deal would help Kotak accelerate growth in the high-net-worth segment while increasing its share in prime urban retail lending.

Global Overhaul

For Deutsche Bank, the divestment aligns with its strategy to wind down retail operations in India as part of a global overhaul under CEO Christian Sewing focused on boosting profitability and prioritising core businesses. Kotak recently clarified that it did not submit a financial bid for IDBI Bank, despite market speculation. The lender’s approach to acquisitions has been focused on strategic fit, valuation and integration feasibility.

“We evaluate every transaction in the market through three clear lenses,” Ashok Vaswani, managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, had said in an investor call in January. “First is strategic fit — does the opportunity add to our franchise? If it doesn’t, we don’t pursue it further. Second is valuation — whether the deal is value-accretive for the firm? For us, scale is about relevance, not just size. The question is whether it strengthens us strategically and financially. If it meets both criteria, we get interested.”

Integration

The third lens is integration and what it will take to successfully absorb and execute on the acquisition, he had said. India’s banking sector has witnessed a wave of strategic deals and consolidation since Axis Bank’s acquisition of Citibank’s consumer business in 2022 for around Rs 11,600 crore, which included credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans, along with the transfer of about 3,200 employees. Kotak Mahindra had earlier acquired Rs 3,330-crore personal loan portfolio from Standard Chartered. Deutsche Bank sold its credit card book to IndusInd in 2011.

More recently, global investors have increased their exposure to India with Japan’s MUFG acquiring a 20% stake in Shriram Finance for $4.4 billion in the largest cross-border financial sector investment, while Emirates NBD agreed to buy a 60% stake in RBL Bank for $3 billion and SMBC picked up a 20% stake in Yes Bank for $1.6 billion and later increased it by another 4.99% stake.