Top Executives at India’s Private Banks See Modest Pay Increases
Top executives at India’s private banks experienced modest increases in their FY25 pay packages. This was due to strict oversight by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI maintained close scrutiny on CEO compensation, requiring prior regulatory approval for salaries, bonuses, and stock options.
Highest Paid Bankers in FY25:
- Sashidhar Jagdishan, HDFC Bank: Jagdishan emerged as India’s highest-paid banker. His total salary exceeded Rs 12 crore. This marked a 12% rise from the previous year. He also received 212,052 shares in employee stock options (ESOPs) valued at over Rs 42 crore.
- Ashok Vaswani, Kotak Mahindra Bank: Vaswani was paid Rs 13 crore. He also received 18,580 ESOPs worth more than Rs 4 crore.
- Amitabh Chaudhry, Axis Bank: Chaudhry drew a salary of Rs 9.11 crore, down 5.4% year-on-year, and received over 259,429 stock options worth more than Rs 30 crore.
- V Vaidyanathan, IDFC First Bank: Vaidyanathan earned Rs 5.54 crore, a 4.5% increase from last year, and was allotted over 24,20,626 stock options valued close to Rs 18 crore.
RBI’s Oversight:
The RBI’s strict oversight aims to ensure transparency and restraint in CEO compensation practices. The bank’s guidelines on compensation for private sector banks and foreign banks operating in India require effective governance of compensation, alignment of compensation with prudent risk-taking, and effective supervisory oversight
