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How Kotak Plans to Double Its SME Portfolio to ₹2.5 Lakh Crore

By Freedom251 Team · · 3 min read

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Kotak Mahindra Bank says it is working to double its unified SME business to about ₹2.5 lakh crore over three to three-and-a-half years. The target is a management focus, not a guaranteed outcome. A separate, formal bank disclosure puts SME advances at ₹1.2 lakh crore for FY2025-26; that figure is close to, but not interchangeable with, the approximately ₹1.25 lakh crore starting point cited in the target report.

What is Kotak’s SME growth target?

Shekhar Bhandari, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Head-SME, described doubling a business of roughly ₹1.25 lakh crore over three to three-and-a-half years as the focus the bank is working toward. The report carrying that target was credited to The Hindu BusinessLine and reproduced by TradingView; its original publication date is not visible in the reviewed rendering. The ₹2.5 lakh crore figure is the implied target based on that approximate starting portfolio, not a separately reported result.

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Kotak’s FY2025-26 investor presentation, filed May 2, 2026, reports SME advances of ₹1.2 lakh crore. It says those advances grew 19% year on year and 5% quarter on quarter, and represented 24% of total advances. These are the bank’s formal financial-year figures and should be read separately from the interview report’s approximate ₹1.25 lakh crore unified SME portfolio. Kotak’s Q4FY26 investor presentation.

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How does the bank plan to pursue the goal?

Unifying SME teams and processes

The report says Kotak brought agri, business banking and corporate SME together under one SME vertical. Bhandari said the aim was a more consistent experience across the SME spectrum, including onboarding, underwriting, servicing and customer engagement. Consolidation is intended to simplify how the bank serves businesses; it does not, by itself, establish how quickly the portfolio will grow.

Offering more than loans

Kotak’s FY2025-26 investor presentation describes a relationship-led SME proposition that includes working capital, term loans, supply-chain finance, trade finance, cash management and foreign exchange. Bhandari framed the value proposition as timely funding and better working-capital efficiency, alongside help running a business—not simply a lower interest rate.

Investing in digital journeys and AI awareness

The report describes investment in digital customer journeys and AI workshops for SME promoters. The May 11, 2026 Moneycontrol interview separately said AI-assisted underwriting had shortened some turnaround stages while retaining physical customer assessment. That is Bhandari’s account of the bank’s process, not a published measure of the workshops’ impact or proof that all SME applications will be assessed faster. Moneycontrol’s May 11, 2026 interview with Shekhar Bhandari.

What market opportunity is Kotak citing?

In the BusinessLine report reproduced by TradingView, Bhandari cited industry estimates of a ₹66 lakh crore SME credit market: ₹38 lakh crore already addressed by banks and non-bank financial companies, with ₹28 lakh crore unmet. These are attributed industry estimates, not figures independently confirmed in the bank’s FY2025-26 presentation.

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The report also attributed to Bhandari an expectation that SME lending could rise from about 24% to nearly 30% of Kotak’s advances. Treat that as an expectation rather than a formal commitment. In its FY2025-26 presentation, the bank reported that SME advances were 24% of total advances and that the segment contributed 17% of total fees and services income, up 14% year on year.

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What could affect the target?

Growth depends on demand as well as the bank’s willingness to lend. In the May 11, 2026 Moneycontrol interview, Bhandari identified geopolitical disruption, including the Iran crisis, as a risk and said Kotak would avoid exuberant lending during uncertain periods. That qualification matters: pursuing a larger portfolio does not mean lending regardless of risk or market conditions.

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business bankingdigital bankingIndian banksKotak Mahindra BankSME lending

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