Kotak flags concerns over privacy, security in a digital-driven world

Banker Uday Kotak has flagged concerns over privacy and security of consumers in the fast-growing digital world.

“As we go down this path of very quick adoption of digital technologies, particularly from a consumer point of view, what is going to happen to privacy?” he noted at an event here.

Thinking about the consumer particularly in the business of risk and trust, two extremely important points of the disruption are privacy and security, Kotak said. Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “It reminds me of James Bond movies we have watched over time, where the devil really is a master of technology.”

Kotak hinted that the onslaught of digital disruptions is also challenging the way banking is conducted.

“As a banker, when I sleep, I worry about whether I’ll have a bank the next morning, will there be an Ali Bank or a Flipkart Bank, or some other bank doing the business we do,” he quipped. He also wondered about the business model of emerging internet companies like WhatsApp. “In telecom, SMS is dead and there is WhatsApp. But I can’t figure out what is the business model of WhatsApp,” he said, adding that companies like it and Facebook, Twitter are first creating a user base to make money later.

“This long tail model has a phenomenal theory — keep getting users, get them to use more, then think about making money,” he said, acknowledging that it’s difficult for traditional businesses to comprehend this.

Kotak also expressed concerns about job creation in a world driven by technology disruptions.

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