NEW DELHI: Kotak Mahindra Bank has received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire Deutsche Bank's retail banking, private banking and wealth management businesses in India, clearing a key regulatory hurdle in the transfer of the German lender's customer-facing operations to the domestic bank.
The CCI said on Tuesday (November 3) that it had approved the acquisition of businesses operated by Deutsche Bank through its Indian branches.
"The proposed combination envisages acquisition of retail banking, private banking and wealth management business of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (seller) undertaken through its branches in India (target business)," the regulator said, adding that the transaction would be carried out as a going concern on a slump sale basis.
The deal also includes referral arrangements under which customers of Deutsche Investments India Pvt Ltd's investment advisory and portfolio management services will be referred to the relevant wholly owned subsidiaries of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Deutsche Investments India is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.
In June, the two banks signed a definitive agreement for the transfer. The business comprises approximately Rs 29,000 crore (2.7 billion euros) in loans, Rs 16,000 crore (1.5 billion euros) in deposits and Rs 10,500 crore (1 billion euros) in assets under management.
While announcing the deal in June, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director and CEO Ashok Vaswani said, "This transaction aligns well with our focus on the affluent and SME segments."
He added, "It is a strong strategic fit and makes sound commercial sense. It also brings a high-quality customer franchise and experienced teams and adds incremental scale and adjacency opportunities. We look forward to warmly welcoming these customers and colleagues to the Kotak family, and our priority will be on disciplined integration and ensuring continuity, while building further depth and capability in this business."
The Kotak Mahindra Group had total assets of Rs 10,03,353 crore as of March 31, 2026. (with inputs from media organisations)