Anup Bagchi set to become India's highest-paid bank CEO, may earn Rs 35.9 crore a year

Mumbai: HDFC Bank has proposed an annual remuneration package of up to ₹35.9 crore for incoming managing director and chief executive Anup Bagchi, potentially making him India's highest-paid bank CEO based on disclosed pay structures of leading private sector bankers.

India's largest private sector lender has also approved an additional one-time joining bonus worth ₹7.35 crore in stock-linked incentives to Bagchi.

HDFC Bank has sought shareholder approval for Bagchi's appointment and remuneration. The proposal, already approved by the Reserve Bank of India, has been put to shareholders through a postal ballot, with electronic voting open from October 8 to November 6.

According to the bank's postal ballot notice, Bagchi's annual package would comprise a fixed pay of ₹8.97 crore and performance-linked variable compensation of up to ₹26.92 crore, equivalent to three times his fixed remuneration. The fixed component would include a basic salary of ₹3.32 crore, housing benefits of ₹1.66 crore, a car allowance of ₹54 lakh, and other allowances, retirement benefits and perquisites.

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Of the variable compensation, ₹8.88 crore would be paid in cash, while ₹18.04 crore would be awarded through employee stock options (ESOPs), valued at ₹253.42 per option under the Black-Scholes model, the bank said. The stock options would vest over four years, while half the cash incentive would be deferred over three years.

The one-time joining bonus would comprise restricted stock units worth ₹3.19 crore and ESOPs valued at ₹4.16 crore, both vesting over four years.

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Bagchi's proposed annual compensation is estimated to be nearly twice his FY26 package at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, including stock options. Based on an indicative Black-Scholes valuation of the options granted to him at the insurer, his compensation could rise by around 90%, from an estimated ₹18.9 crore to ₹35.9 crore.

For comparison, HDFC Bank's FY26 statutory annual return showed that outgoing CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan received a total remuneration of ₹28.65 crore, comprising a gross salary of ₹14.71 crore, stock-option benefits worth ₹13.53 crore and other benefits of ₹41 lakh.

Deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha received ₹26.32 crore: a gross salary of ₹16.69 crore, stock-option benefits worth ₹9.17 crore and other benefits of ₹45 lakh. These stock-option benefits are measured differently from Bagchi's proposed grant-date valuations. Among other private bank chiefs, Kotak Mahindra Bank's Ashok Vaswani received ₹17.24 crore in FY26, while ICICI Bank's Sandeep Bakhshi received around ₹10.64 crore.