Billionaire Banker Kotak Calls Evergrande China’s Lehman Moment

Many analysts predict the cash crunch at Evergrande is unlikely to become China’s 'Lehman moment'. Uday Kotak begs to differ.

Suvashree Ghosh

22 Sep 2021, 07:37 AM IST

Billionaire Banker Kotak Calls Evergrande China’s Lehman Moment

Uday Kotak, billionaire and chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank. (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Many analysts are predicting that the cash crunch at China Evergrande Group is unlikely to become China’s version of the 2008 Lehman Brothers crash. The world’s richest banker begs to differ.

“Evergrande seems like China’s Lehman moment,” Uday Kotak, chief executive officer and founder of Indian lender Kotak Mahindra Bank, said in a tweet.

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Kotak is worth $16.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the 120th-richest person in the world.

Kotak also likened the crisis at Evergrande to the collapse of India’s Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. The Indian government chose him to oversee the restructuring of the distressed shadow lender three years ago after it defaulted on debt repayments.