About Uday Kotak
At the CII Annual Business Summit 2026 and other recent events, Uday Kotak warned that India has not yet felt the full economic impact of the West Asia conflict, stating that higher energy prices are "coming big" and that consumers have not yet felt the pressure. He said that existing fuel inventories and oil companies acting as shock absorbers have delayed the transmission, but argued that a shock is imminent unless the conflict stops. Kotak also described the global order as shifting toward a "tribal" mindset focused on territory and control over assets, citing remarks by Donald Trump about war spoils and charging rent for the Strait of Hormuz as evidence of a return to "true colonialism."
Kotak argued that India has "financialized too early," with companies overly focused on short-term stock prices and quarterly results rather than long-term investment. He contrasted this with Chinese companies, which he said prioritize R&D and long-term strategic dominance. He also called for a national debate on the role of state-owned enterprises, noting that much of China's growth has come from such companies and that they are "not necessarily the wrong thing." Kotak urged businesses and policymakers to "prepare for paranoia" and be ready for tough times rather than waiting for a shock.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Uday Kotak's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
U
Uday Kotak0:02
Hello customers and friends. The budget on the leap year date, February 29, 2016, has been a very interesting one. First, the Finance Minister has controlled the fiscal deficit for next year at 3.5% of GDP. This is very, very commendable and a positive for interest rates in the economy. I expect as a follow-through of this, the Reserve Bank to consider dropping interest rates and repo rates sometime in March. Post that, I do believe that this will help the banks' balance sheets since banks own a large number of government bonds. Also, the focus of the Finance Minister on the nine main items, which include rural growth, infrastructure, the whole area of financial sector reform, social infrastructure, healthcare, education, are steps to a strong foundation for our future. In the immediate follow-through of this budget, I think what will happen is, from an Indian point of view, this is a big boost for sustainable growth of Indian financial savings. However, the counterpoint is global headwinds continue to be quite a bit, and in a way, the budget being out of the way, we are now really having to face the challenge of what happens in the rest of the world. We also got to keep in mind that this budget is clearly pro-farm, pro-rural India, at the same time not hurting markets. The higher income Indians will have to pay more taxes, including on dividends, but that is an Indian. I believe that Indians must contribute to fixing India's fiscal house once and for all. I feel positive about this budget, and if I have to take a long-term view, this is a very important step in the right direction. Simultaneously, the government has given all people who have unaccounted income in India a one-time opportunity to come clean at a 45% tax rate. In addition, there is an expectation that there will also be a settlement on tax cases of international companies with the Indian government coming out of retrospective taxation. So some of those, I think, will help increase the credibility of India and putting India on a sustainable path. This is a very important step taken by this government at what is roughly the midpoint or close to the midpoint of their tenure. I wish each of the equity investors, the bond investors, and every investor in Indian financial savings to have a good future, and I would consider this budget a big positive in that direction.
