Rebecca MacDonald, chair of the judging panel, said the decision had been an extremely tough one, however the judges felt that Kotak's work had been exemplary.
Uday shone through for the way he had created a new bank in a challenging and highly regulated environment, that had a positive impact in the community.
"We were impressed with his strong focus on inclusive growth, providing low-cost services to rural customers that have a tangible impact on people's lives," MacDonald said.
Following the awards ceremony, Drury tweeted that he was thrilled for Uday, and that the awards had been "a great experience. Inspiring."
According to EY communications manager, Jenni McManus, previous award nominees had found the opportunity to be "a real game changer, opening huge opportunities beyond the event itself", something she said Drury would also find.
More than 50 of the world's top entrepreneurs, with combined revenues of more than US$32 billion ($38 billion), were competing for the title.
Drury, the winner of the NZ Entrepreneur of the Year Award last October, founded cloud accounting software firm Xero in 2006. The company was floated on the stock exchange in 2007 and since then its market value has soared to $3.8 billion.
