- Kotak Mahindra Bank created a new Head of Trade role and appointed Megha Chopra effective August 2025 to unify trade sales and product and scale its trade finance franchise.
- Chopra brings 24+ years in trade, working capital and transaction banking, most recently at Citi and previously at American Express and Standard Chartered.
- Kotak is targeting fast-growing mid-market and SME trade flows in an India trade finance market expanding ~7–9% CAGR, supported by digitisation such as TReDS and e-invoicing.
- Execution will hinge on digital product rollout and strong risk/compliance controls amid intense competition from banks with larger global trade networks.
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Kotak Mahindra Bank’s appointment of Megha Chopra as its new Head of Trade (a role combining sales and product) in August 2025 marks a key strategic investment in its trade finance capabilities, indicating the bank’s ambition to deepen engagement with corporates while scaling its trade-related offerings.
Chopra’s professional trajectory — with senior trade and working capital sales roles in Asia for Citi, as well as transaction-banking and payments experience at major global banks — suggests she may bring global best practices, structured trade product innovation, and a stronger risk-and-operational discipline to Kotak’s trade business.
India’s trade finance market provides fertile ground for Kotak’s initiative. Estimates from market research show the market revenue in 2024 was between approximately USD 1.2-1.8 billion (depending on source), and projected to grow to USD 2.5-3.9 billion by 2029-2033, with growth rates (CAGR) between ~7–9% driven by non-documentary receivables financing, SME segment growth, and cross-border trade.
Within Kotak, this appointment aligns with broader corporate banking strategy: the bank is pushing into mid-market corporates (firms with turnover ₹500-1500 crore), expanding the mid-market vertical which has shown ~35% compound annual growth since its April 2023 launch. Trade finance is a natural complement to such growth as mid-market firms increasingly demand working capital, supply-chain finance, international trade facilitation, and digital trade tools.
Key strategic implications:
- Kotak can gain competitive differentiation by integrating trade product innovation (e.g., digital trade platforms, non-documentary financing, receivables discounting) with strong client sales coverage, particularly among SMEs and mid-market companies.
- Managing risk carefully: trade finance, especially with international flows and SME/non-documentary business, involves higher fraud, compliance, foreign exchange and documentation risk — oversight and systems must keep pace, especially given recent regulatory scrutiny of Kotak’s digital/IT infrastructure.
- Operational scale and execution: speed of product rollout, issuance of guarantees/letters of credit, time to disbursement, and digital integration (e.g., APIs, automated risk underwriting) will be crucial to capture growth before competitors do.
- Alignment with macro policies: export push, FTAs, government incentives, and regulatory facilitation (e.g., rupee trade settlement, digital trade corridors) can amplify Kotak’s trade business, but also can be volatile or subject to policy risk.
Open questions:
- How Kotak plans to balance growth with risk: what levels of exposure to large-ticket structured trade vs domestic SME non-documentary flows will be targeted?
- What investments Chopra will make in technology, risk/compliance, and partner ecosystems (fintechs, insurers, trade networks)?
- How Kotak will price and package its trade products (fees, timelines) relative to established competitors, especially banks with stronger international networks or public sector banks for export-based trade.
- How Kotak’s existing constraints (e.g., historical digital compliance/IT risks, regulatory restrictions) might affect its ability to scale trade finance quickly and securely. Also, what internal KPIs or metrics will track success in this business line?
Supporting Notes
- Kotak Mahindra Bank appointed Megha Chopra as Head of Trade, a newly created role combining sales and product, effective in August 2025.
- Chopra moved from Citi, where she was managing director and global head of the trade client desk; earlier she was head of trade and working capital sales in Asia, based in Singapore.
- Previous experience includes roles at American Express and Standard Chartered in transaction banking, payments, and trade.
- Anu Aggarwal, Kotak’s head of corporate & investment banking, said trade finance is a core strategic focus and that Chopra’s leadership will be pivotal for strengthening client engagement and accelerating growth.
- Paritosh Kashyap, head of wholesale banking, said Chopra will play a critical role in expanding trade finance capabilities to serve evolving client needs.
- The India trade finance market had revenue between ~USD 1.2-USD 1.8 billion in 2024, with projections reaching ~USD 3-4 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR between 7-9%.
- Mid-market corporate loan book at Kotak is ~₹15,000 crore (~USD 1.8-2.0 billion in exposure as of 2025) and has grown at ~35% CAGR since its April 2023 launch.