Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. filed a provisional business update with BSE and NSE on Monday showing net advances of ₹5,77,094 crore as of 30 September 2026, a 24.7 percent jump from ₹4,62,688 crore a year earlier and a 12.7 percent rise from the June quarter close, giving investors a concrete balance-sheet read before Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s monetary policy statement at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Deposits and CASA momentum
Total deposits stood at ₹6,51,491 crore, up 23.2 percent year on year and 13.7 percent quarter on quarter, according to the exchange filing. Current and savings account balances reached ₹2,49,105 crore, rising 11.3 percent from September 2025 and 7.8 percent from June. Average net advances for the quarter were ₹5,46,963 crore, while average deposits were ₹6,06,234 crore.
The lender noted that end-period balances include foreign-currency non-resident deposits of $5.78 billion, converted at prevailing rates to about ₹55,344 crore under the RBI’s FCNR(B) swap window, with corresponding international-branch advances of $1.68 billion. Stripping that swap-linked stack out, analysts still described core growth as strong: Citi Research said adjusted advances expanded roughly 21.6 percent year on year in a note after the update.
Why the timing matters
Private banks have led the Nifty’s pre-policy bounce as traders position for a likely repo-rate increase. Kotak’s shares gained more than 3 percent on Tuesday after the filing, extending a run that began when oil softened and large lenders reported steady credit demand. For corporate borrowers and mortgage customers, a faster-growing advance book signals Kotak is still finding takers for working-capital and retail loans even as funding costs face upward pressure.
Management has not yet published net interest margin or asset-quality ratios for the quarter; those arrive with audited results. The provisional filing nonetheless sets expectations that loan growth outpaced the system average, with Citi highlighting strength in corporate banking, small and medium enterprises, loans against property, and microfinance portfolios.
Funding mix and festival season
Deposit growth outpacing CASA alone suggests term and wholesale funding played a role in the September quarter. That is typical ahead of Diwali inventory cycles, when merchants draw down limits and households shift balances toward fixed deposits chasing higher rates. Kotak’s CASA ratio still improved sequentially, a metric regulators watch when liquidity tightens.
Bank treasury desks said FCNR(B) inflows can distort quarter-end comparisons but also show Kotak’s ability to tap overseas Indian liquidity when the central bank offers swap lines. The filing cautioned that figures remain subject to limited review by statutory auditors.
Peer context
Axis Bank Ltd. also reported double-digit growth in advances and deposits for the period, helping lift the Nifty Bank index on Tuesday. Investors are treating lender updates as a partial offset to eight weeks of broader market losses that erased trillions of rupees in market capitalisation. Kotak’s update reinforces that private-sector balance sheets expanded through September even as bond yields and crude kept macro desks cautious.
What to watch next
Malhotra’s statement will clarify how much of Kotak’s funding-cost increase banks can pass through to floating-rate loans. Fixed-rate products and credit-card portfolios reprice on different schedules, but a higher repo typically flows into marginal cost of funds-based lending rates within a quarter. Kotak’s deposit bet suggests management expects credit demand to hold into the festive months; the risk is that a sharper-than-expected hike compresses margins before loan yields catch up.
Full quarterly earnings will test whether growth translated into return on equity or merely a larger balance sheet without better returns. For now, the ₹5.77 lakh crore advance footprint is the hard number Mumbai traders will carry into Wednesday’s policy window.