diff --git a/scripts/kfctl.sh b/scripts/kfctl.sh
index 5b2c8f681b2..3ce0ebf0c6b 100755
--- a/scripts/kfctl.sh
+++ b/scripts/kfctl.sh
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ createEnv() {
   # Remove trailing slash from the repo.
   KUBEFLOW_REPO=${KUBEFLOW_REPO%/}
 
-  # builds a set of inputs to be used with envsubst for env.sh 
+  # builds a set of inputs to be used with envsubst for env.sh
   # writeEnv updates env.sh when any env var changes
   # eg: envsubst < input.tmpl > env.sh
   INPUT+=('PLATFORM=$PLATFORM\n'
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ createEnv() {
 
   case "$PLATFORM" in
     minikube)
-      export KUBEFLOW_PLATFORM=minikube 
+      export KUBEFLOW_PLATFORM=minikube
       export MOUNT_LOCAL=${MOUNT_LOCAL:-""}
       ;;
     docker-for-desktop)
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ createEnv() {
                '$CONFIG_FILE$GKE_API_VERSION')
 
       export KUBEFLOW_PLATFORM=gke
-      export PROJECT="${PROJECT}" 
+      export PROJECT="${PROJECT}"
       export ZONE=${ZONE}
       export EMAIL=${EMAIL}
 
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ createEnv() {
       export DEPLOYMENT_NAME=${DEPLOYMENT_NAME:-"kubeflow"}
 
       # Kubeflow directories
-      export KUBEFLOW_DM_DIR=${KUBEFLOW_DM_DIR:-"$(pwd)/gcp_config"} 
+      export KUBEFLOW_DM_DIR=${KUBEFLOW_DM_DIR:-"$(pwd)/gcp_config"}
       export KUBEFLOW_SECRETS_DIR=${KUBEFLOW_SECRETS_DIR:-"$(pwd)/secrets"}
       export KUBEFLOW_K8S_MANIFESTS_DIR="$(pwd)/k8s_specs"
 
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ createEnv() {
 
       # GCP Static IP Name
       export KUBEFLOW_IP_NAME=${KUBEFLOW_IP_NAME:-"${DEPLOYMENT_NAME}-ip"}
-      
+
       # Name of the endpoint
       export KUBEFLOW_ENDPOINT_NAME=${KUBEFLOW_ENDPOINT_NAME:-"${DEPLOYMENT_NAME}"}
       # Complete hostname
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ parseArgs() {
       --gkeApiVersion)
         shift
         GKE_API_VERSION=$1
-        ;;       
+        ;;
       --skipInitProject)
         SKIP_INIT_PROJECT=true
         ;;
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ parseArgs() {
         echo "or by setting a default account in gcloud config"
         exit 1
       fi
-      
+
       # See kubeflow/kubeflow#1936
       # gcloud may not get the case correct for the email.
       # The iam-policy respects the case so we check the IAM policy for the email
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ main() {
       exit 1
     fi
     if [[ ${#DEPLOYMENT_NAME} -gt 25 ]]; then
-      echo "Name ${DEPLOYMENT_NAME} should not be longer than 25 characters" 
+      echo "Name ${DEPLOYMENT_NAME} should not be longer than 25 characters"
       exit 1
     fi
     if [[ ${DEPLOYMENT_NAME} == *.*  ]]; then
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ main() {
     createEnv
 
     source ${ENV_FILE}
-    
+
     if [[ -z "${PLATFORM}" ]]; then
       echo "--platform must be provided"
       echo "usage: kfctl init <PLATFORM>"
@@ -393,9 +393,8 @@ main() {
     exit 1
   fi
 
-  # TODO(ankushagarwal): verify ks version is higher than 0.11.0
-  check_install ks
-  check_install kubectl
+  # verify client dependencies like ks and kubectl are installed and have right versions
+  check_installed_deps
 
   if [[ "${PLATFORM}" == "gcp" ]]; then
     checkInstallPy pyyaml yaml
diff --git a/scripts/util.sh b/scripts/util.sh
index e8e50581736..b62533fc039 100644
--- a/scripts/util.sh
+++ b/scripts/util.sh
@@ -15,9 +15,22 @@ usage() {
   echo "help - print this message"
 }
 
-check_install() {
-  if ! which "${1}" &>/dev/null && ! type -a "${1}" &>/dev/null ; then
-    echo "You don't have ${1} installed. Please install ${1}."
+check_installed_deps() {
+  declare -a kf_deps=("ks" "kubectl")
+
+  for kf_dep in "${kf_app[@]}"; do
+    if ! which "${kf_dep}" &>/dev/null && ! type -a "${kf_dep}" &>/dev/null ; then
+      echo "You don't have ${kf_dep} installed. Please install ${kf_dep}."
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  done
+
+  # check minimum ks versions
+  kf_dep="ks"
+  min_ks_ver="0.11.0"
+  ks_ver=$(${kf_dep} version | cut -d' ' -f3 | head -1)
+  if [ ${ks_ver} \< ${min_ks_ver} ]; then
+    echo "Please install ${kf_dep} version ${min_ks_ver} or newer"
     exit 1
   fi
 }
@@ -85,7 +98,7 @@ createKsApp() {
   ks generate tensorboard tensorboard
   ks generate metacontroller metacontroller
   ks generate profiles profiles
-  ks generate notebooks notebooks 
+  ks generate notebooks notebooks
   ks generate argo argo
   ks generate pipeline pipeline
 
@@ -138,7 +151,7 @@ customizeKsAppWithDockerImage() {
     find ${KUBEFLOW_KS_DIR} -name config.yaml | xargs sed -i -e "s%gcr.io%$KUBEFLOW_DOCKER_REGISTRY%g"
   fi
 
-  # The katib images like gcr.io/kubeflow-images-public/katib/tfevent-metrics-collector:v0.4.0 uses sub namespace kubeflow-images-public/katib in 
+  # The katib images like gcr.io/kubeflow-images-public/katib/tfevent-metrics-collector:v0.4.0 uses sub namespace kubeflow-images-public/katib in
   # gcr.io repo, but it's not supported by other docker image repo. We need to consider how to support it in other docker repos.
   if [[ ! -z "$DOCKER_REGISTRY_KATIB_NAMESPACE" ]]; then
     find ${KUBEFLOW_KS_DIR} -name "*.libsonnet" -o -name "*.jsonnet" | xargs sed -i -e "s%kubeflow-images-public/katib%$DOCKER_REGISTRY_KATIB_NAMESPACE%g"