HDFC's Sashidhar Jagdishan Becomes Highest-Paid Bank CEO in FY25
- HDFC Bank’s Sashidhar Jagdishan earned over Rs 12 crore in FY25, along with ESOPs worth Rs 42.4 crore.
- Kotak’s Ashok Vaswani earned Rs 13 crore, Axis Bank’s Amitabh Chaudhry Rs 9.11 crore, and IDFC First’s V Vaidyanathan Rs 5.54 crore.
- CEO pay hikes remained modest due to RBI’s strict approval norms for salaries and stock options.
Sashidhar Jagdishan, Managing Director and CEO of HDFC Bank, has emerged as the highest-paid banker in India for the financial year 2024-25. His total salary exceeded Rs 12 crore, marking a 12% increase from the previous year. In addition to his pay, he received 212,052 employee stock options (ESOPs), valued at over Rs 42.4 crore based on the current market price of Rs 2,000 per share.
Following him, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s CEO Ashok Vaswani earned nearly Rs 13 crore in salary, along with 18,580 ESOPs valued at more than Rs 4 crore.
Axis Bank MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry earned Rs 9.11 crore, a 5.4% dip from the previous year, and was allotted 259,429 stock options worth over Rs 30 crore. Meanwhile, IDFC First Bank’s V Vaidyanathan earned Rs 5.54 crore in salary, reflecting a 4.5% rise, and received 24,20,626 stock options valued at around Rs 18 crore.
ICICI Bank’s MD and CEO Sandeep Bakhshi earned Rs 9.96 crore in FY24, but his FY25 remuneration details are yet to be disclosed.
Overall, CEO compensation across major private sector banks showed modest growth in FY25, amid tighter regulatory oversight. The Reserve Bank of India continues to keep a close watch, requiring prior approval for CEO pay, bonuses, and stock option allotments.
