Kotak Mahindra Bank announced a significant change in its Senior Management Personnel following the resignation of Mr. Bhavnish Lathia, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective February 9, 2026. The Board swiftly approved two key appointments effective February 10, 2026. Mr. Nilesh Chaudhari is appointed as the new CTO, and Mr. Aravamudham (Vijay) Narayanan joins as the Head – Innovation and AI, both taking on Senior Management roles.
Senior Management Personnel Transition Confirmed
Kotak Mahindra Bank has formally disclosed a change within its key technological leadership structure. Mr. Bhavnish Lathia has resigned from his position as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective February 9, 2026. The bank confirmed that Mr. Lathia’s departure was due to personal reasons, and his resignation was accepted on the same date. The document includes correspondence confirming the acceptance of the resignation by Mr. Ashok Vaswani.
Board Approves Key Appointments
In response to the transition, the Board of Directors passed a resolution on February 9, 2026 (at 6:38 p.m. IST), approving immediate appointments effective from February 10, 2026:
- Mr. Nilesh Chaudhari appointed as the new Chief Technology Officer and a Senior Management Personnel.
- Mr. Aravamudham (Vijay) Narayanan appointed as the Head – Innovation and AI and a Senior Management Personnel.
Profile of New Leadership
Mr. Nilesh Chaudhari (New CTO)
Mr. Chaudhari is an accomplished technology leader bringing 29 years of experience across global and Indian financial institutions, including significant tenures at JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup, and IDFC First Bank. His expertise spans payments, core banking, treasury, digital transformation, and large-scale technology operations across 20+ countries. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Poona.
Mr. Aravamudham (Vijay) Narayanan (Head – Innovation and AI)
Mr. Narayanan joins with approximately 24 years of varied experience in technology leadership, having worked with global firms like Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Medscape WebMD, and Merrill Lynch. His technical expertise centers on large-scale engineering, cloud services, CICD, API platforms, and infrastructure-as-code. At Kotak Mahindra Bank previously, he was instrumental in driving initiatives like the Transaction Authorization System (TAS) deployment and adopting the bank’s overall AI strategy.
Disclosures and Compliance
The announcement confirms that Mr. Chaudhari and Mr. Narayanan have no reportable relationships with existing directors of the Bank, as detailed in the annexure provided with the filing. The complete information, in line with disclosure requirements, is also being uploaded on the Bank’s official website.
Source: BSE
