Fourth-largest private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bankon Tuesday said it will acquire Deutsche Bank India’s retail, private banking and wealth business for a cash consideration of just about Rs282 crore, marking the German lender’s complete exit of customer facing banking businesses in the country.
The deal includes Rs29,000 crore in loans and Rs16,000 crore in deposits while the wealth management business has about Rs10,500 crore in assets under management.
The deal, value of which is not disclosed by the lenders, is expected to close by September 2027, pending approvals, the lenders said in a joint statement on Tuesday. However, sources said the deal involves just Rs282 crore in cash pay-in for the German bank.
In the past, Kotak Mahindra Bank had acquired ING Vysya Bank in November 2014 for Rs15,000 crore in an all stock deal and in January 2025, it bought out the personal loans portfolio of the British lender Standard Chartered Bank India at a valuation of Rs4,100 crore. The bank was a front-runner to take over 62% of the LIC-owned IDBI Bank earlier this year but backed out at the last stage citing higher valuation.
In a joint statement, the banks said they have entered into definitive agreements under which the German lender, which is also the largest European bank in the country, will sell its retail banking, private banking and wealth management businesses to Kotak Bank.
It serves nearly 1.5 lakh customers and has a team of about 1,000 employees, the largest German bank said.
Nearly 1,000 Deutsche Bank India employees are expected to join Kotak as part of the transaction. Both banks said they would work to ensure continuity of service for customers during the transition and after closing. Kotak Mahindra Bank said the deal fits its focus on affluent and small and medium enterprise customers.
Ashok Vaswani, managing director and chief executive of Kotak Bank, said the transaction brings a “high-quality customer franchise” and experienced teams, while adding scale and adjacent opportunities.
“Our priority will be on disciplined integration and ensuring continuity, while building further depth and capability in this business,” Vaswani said.
For Deutsche Bank, the sale is part of its global strategy, under which the German lender is simplifying its business and focusing on areas where it has scale and competitive strength. Kaushik Shaparia, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank Group India and Emerging Asia, said the transaction marks a step in sharpening the bank’s portfolio.
Despite the near exit of its operations here he said India remains a core market for them, supported by its corporate banking, investment banking and asset management business through DWS.
He further said, the deal with Kotak Bank provides it with a domestic platform for continuity for its onshore private banking and wealth clients here and that Deutsche’s private bank will continue to focus on global ultra-high networth clients, including non-resident Indians, outside India.
At closing, the transaction is expected to be return-on-equity accretive for Kotak Bank and common equity tier-1 accretive for Deutsche Bank, the release said.
Deutsche Bank has been operating here for over 45 years and has a presence across key locations, including Gift City and houses more than a quarter of its global workforce. Even after completion of the deal, Deutsche Bank will continue to be the largest European bank in the country, supporting operations across 48 countries.
