GC Influencers
Most Influential GCs - India
Kalpana Agarwal of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited.
Mumbai-based Kalpana Agarwal heads the legal team at Kotak Mahindra Bank. She joined the company in 2004, and during her time with the company has built up impressive expertise handling complex regulatory issues and corporate transactions as well as overseeing litigations.
Her role includes a focus upon business strategy, as well as due diligence and compliance work, and she is also credited for her sound management of an expanding team of in-house lawyers. A market source highlights her important role within the company: “The legal compliance of a corporate investment bank is very important in terms of risk assessment, and we have worked with Kalpana, who is excellent.”
Agarwal has dealt with some challenging regulatory issues the bank has faced, including the submission of a petition challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s rejection of its proposal to reduce promoter shareholding. This was in response to the central bank’s request to all banks to reduce promoter stake to 20% of paid-up capital by 31 December 2018, and 15% by 31 March 2020.