Kotak Mutual Fund appoints Nilesh Shah as MD

The firm has been without a CEO for months since Sandesh Kirkire put in his papers in mid-2014

Kotak Mutual Fund, India’s ninth largest fund house, has appointed Nilesh Shah as managing director, with effect from Thursday. The firm has been without a chief executive officer (CEO) for months since Sandesh Kirkire put in his papers in mid-2014.

Prior to joining Kotak, Shah was leading Axis Capital as managing director and CEO. Before that, he was the chief investment officer at ICICI Prudential AMC.

Gaurang Shah, president (asset management, insurance and international business) at Kotak Mahindra Bank, said: “Nilesh’s expertise in both debt and equity markets, coupled with his rich business experience across asset management and investment banking, complements our existing asset management capabilities.”

In a statement, Shah said, “India is on the cusp of a potential economic and business growth, but the ownership of Indian investors in capital markets is still quite low. This creates an interesting opportunity and a compelling objective to come back to what I like the most – asset management business.”