Kotak Mahindra Bank · AI used against the institution · severity 1 of 5
On 1 April 2025 a video circulating on social media showed Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak apparently promoting an investment platform that would turn Rs 21,000 into more than Rs 4 lakh a week. Fact-checker The Quint (WebQoof) reported the same day that the clip was an old 2014 video of Kotak manipulated with AI-generated audio and lip-sync. Kotak posted on X: "This is FAKE. Please do not be entrapped by it," NDTV Profit and ET Now reported. No losses or victims have been reported, and no separate statement from Kotak Mahindra Bank or any regulatory action was found as of October 2026.
Record last reviewed Oct 21, 2026 · Markdown
Date
Institution
Kotak Mahindra Bank
Country
India
AI system
AI-generated audio and lip-sync added to a 2014 video of Uday Kotak (tool not identified)
AI?
Machine-learning system (inferred from the record)
The sources describe a machine-learning model; nobody on the record labelled it AI.
Status
Confirmed by the institution
Severity
1 of 5
Impact
Not disclosed; no victim count or loss figure has been reported · An AI-manipulated video of the bank's founder used to promote a fraudulent guaranteed-return investment scheme on social media.
What happened?
A video showing Uday Kotak promoting an investment platform went viral in India at the start of April 2025. In it he appears to say that investing Rs 21,000 would earn more than Rs 4 lakh (Rs 400,000) a week.[1][2]
The Quint's fact-checking desk WebQoof traced the footage through reverse image search to a Kotak Mahindra Bank YouTube video from 14 May 2014 titled "Uday Kotak's views on Young & Digital", in which he promotes no investment platform. It ran the clip through AI-detection tools, which, according to The Quint, found clear signs of AI manipulation in both audio and video, "including usage of lip sync and audio clones".[1]
On 1 April 2025 Kotak posted on X: "There is a video circulating on social media where I am apparently seen promoting an investment scheme and guaranteed returns. This is FAKE. Please do not be entrapped by it." NDTV Profit described the clip as "an old video of Uday Kotak manipulated using artificial intelligence technology".[2][3]
None of the reports gives a number of people who invested or an amount lost. Kotak's disavowal was made on his personal X account; no separate statement by Kotak Mahindra Bank was found in the coverage reviewed.[2][3]
When did it happen?
- Apr 1, 2025
The Quint (WebQoof) publishes a fact-check finding the viral Uday Kotak investment video was AI-manipulated from a 2014 clip.[1]
- Apr 1, 2025
Uday Kotak posts on X that the video is fake and warns the public not to be entrapped by it.[2][3]
- Apr 2, 2025
NDTV Profit reports Kotak's warning and the AI manipulation.[2]
What was the impact?
- Customers: Not disclosed; no victim count or loss figure has been reported[1][2]
- Other: An AI-manipulated video of the bank's founder used to promote a fraudulent guaranteed-return investment scheme on social media.[1][2]
Severity 1 of 5: Contained impersonation lure: the founder publicly disowned the video the day it was fact-checked, and no losses, victim count or regulatory action have been reported.
How did Kotak Mahindra Bank respond?
Founder Uday Kotak said on X: "There is a video circulating on social media where I am apparently seen promoting an investment scheme and guaranteed returns. This is FAKE. Please do not be entrapped by it." No separate public statement by Kotak Mahindra Bank was found as of 21 October 2026 (searched Indian national and business press and the Keenable web index).[2][3]
What was the outcome, and did regulators act?
The video was publicly debunked by a fact-checker and disowned by Kotak on the day it surfaced. No arrests, takedown figures, losses or regulatory action connected to it had been reported as of 21 October 2026.[1][2]
Was the Uday Kotak investment video real?
No. Uday Kotak said on X on 1 April 2025 that the video was fake, and The Quint's WebQoof fact-check found it was a 2014 Kotak Mahindra Bank video of him with AI-generated audio and lip-sync added to make him appear to promote a guaranteed-return investment platform.
Did anyone lose money to the fake Uday Kotak video?
No losses have been reported. Neither Kotak's post nor the NDTV Profit, ET Now or Quint reports gives a number of people who invested or an amount lost, and no police complaint or regulatory action tied to the video had been reported as of October 2026.
Did Kotak Mahindra Bank make a statement about the deepfake?
The disavowal came from founder Uday Kotak on his own X account. BankingNewsAI found no separate statement from Kotak Mahindra Bank in the press coverage reviewed as of 21 October 2026, nor any description of steps the bank took to have the video removed.
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