FY26 Bank Paycheque: Kotak’s Vaswani highest paid; HDFC Dy MD Bharucha leads post-ESOP

Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director and CEO Ashok Vaswani was India's highest-paid private sector bank executive in fiscal 2026, drawing a total cash remuneration of Rs 17.23 crore, a 33% increase from the previous year when he received Rs 12.95 crore.

When stock options are also factored in, HDFC Bank deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha's compensation was the highest among bank executives last fiscal year.

Vaswani’s pay packet was significantly boosted by a Rs 6.68 crore stock appreciation rights (SARs) pay-out. SARs, a cash-settled instrument tied to appreciation in Kotak's share price, accounted for nearly 39% of his total compensation.


He was also granted 355,500 stock options during the year, more than double the 1,52,750 options he received in FY25. At Kotak's current market price of around Rs 384 a share, this year's grant carries a notional value of roughly Rs 13.65 crore, pushing his effective total package—cash plus options—to around Rs 30.88 crore. Vaswani will exit the bank in December 2026 as he has expressed his unwillingness to take up another term.

At HDFC Bank, Bharucha was paid more than his own boss. His total FY26 cash remuneration came in at Rs 17.14 crore, just behind Vaswani but ahead of HDFC Bank managing director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan, who earned Rs 15.13 crore. Bharucha out-earned Jagdishan on nearly every count, from basic pay and allowances to performance bonus, which at Rs 8.57 crore was Rs 1.28 crore higher than the CEO's Rs 7.29 crore bonus.

The gap widens further once stock options are factored in. Bharucha was granted 623,651 shares under the employee stock option programme during the year against 428,405 to Jagdishan. At HDFC Bank's current market price of around Rs 818 a share, Bharucha's option grant is valued about Rs 51.01 crore, compared with about Rs 35.04 crore for Jagdishan. This takes Bharucha's effective total package to nearly Rs 68.15 crore against Jagdishan's Rs 50.17 crore, a gap of over 35%.

Axis Bank MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry trailed the group on cash pay, with cash-and-allowance compensation of about Rs 10.9 crore for FY26, up nearly 20% from Rs 9.11 crore in FY25. Chaudhry's FY26 pay-out included deferred variable pay of over Rs 2 crore, a reflection of the RBI's clawback-linked deferral rules for bank executives, under which bonuses vest and are paid out over multiple years rather than upfront. Chaudhry was also granted 262,685 stock options for FY25 performance, at a grant price of Rs 1,207.10 per share. Approval for the grant came through from the RBI only in FY26. At Axis Bank's current market price of around Rs 1,320 a share, that grant is worth approximately Rs 34.42 crore, taking Chaudhry's effective total package to nearly Rs 45.31 crore once cash pay and option value are combined.

Once stock options are layered on top of cash pay, the picture shifts considerably. On a cash-plus-ESOP basis, Bharucha's effective FY26 package remains the highest of the group, more than double of Vaswani and over 35% higher than Jagdishan. Chaudhry, despite trailing on cash pay alone, overtakes Vaswani once his FY25 option grant is factored in.

The scale of this year's pay packages comes even as the Reserve Bank of India continues its scrutiny of bank CEO remuneration. The regulator requires prior approval for salary, performance bonuses and stock option allocations for key managerial personnel at banks.