'How fortunate my generation has been': As 2025 ends, Uday Kotak reflects on progress and costs of modern life

As 2025 draws to a close, Uday Kotak, founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has shared a wide-ranging reflection on the economic, technological, and social shifts witnessed by his generation. He also flagged what may have been lost along the way.

In a post titled Year End Musings, Kotak wrote, "As 2025 ends, I think about how fortunate my generation has been."

He listed a series of transformations that, in his view, defined the era. "We have seen the advent of television, man on the moon, emails, mobile to smartphones, 24/7 connectivity, exponential computing power, economic development, no world wars, no depression of the 1930s kind, and the power of financial markets," he wrote, adding that society has now moved "into the world of AI and space."

Kotak also reflected on the trade-offs that have accompanied these gains. "Have we lost anything? Maybe," he wrote, before pointing to a range of concerns. "Less in-person interactions, environmental decline and pollution, wider divides in society, less tolerance to alternate points of view, more transient and transactional relationships, dominance of hard power over soft power."

The banker noted that global competition is sharpening, often without sufficient regard for long-term consequences. "The race between nations is intensifying, less mindful of consequences," Kotak wrote.

Looking ahead, Kotak struck a note of cautious optimism. "I look forward to 2026 to see us progress with conviction, sensitivity, and equanimity," he said.