HDFC Bank’s incoming Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Anup Bagchi is set to become India’s highest-paid bank CEO, with annualised compensation of nearly ₹35.9 crore, according to the bank’s latest disclosure.
The payout is more than double the ₹17.23 crore received by Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Ashok Vaswani in FY26, the highest among the leading banks compared. Axis Bank followed, with its CEO also receiving compensation of more than ₹10 crore during the year.
The proposed total compensation of ₹35.90 crore includes fixed pay of ₹8.97 crore and variable pay of ₹26.92 crore. Of the variable component, ₹8.88 crore is proposed in cash, while ₹18.04 crore will come through share-linked instruments.
The share-linked component comprises 7,11,801 ESOPs, valued at ₹18.04 crore using the Black-Scholes method. The options will be deferred and vested over four years. The bank has also proposed a one-time joining bonus comprising 44,796 restricted stock units valued at ₹3.19 crore and 1,64,207 ESOPs valued at ₹4.16 crore.
The remuneration disclosure comes shortly after HDFC Bank ended a closely watched search for its next chief executive.
The bank announced Bagchi’s appointment on October 1 after receiving approval from the Reserve Bank of India. He will take charge as MD & CEO from October 27 for a three-year term, succeeding Sashidhar Jagdishan.
Jagdishan had told the bank’s board on August 29 that he would not seek reappointment after his current term ends on October 26. The bank subsequently reviewed internal and external candidates before finalising Bagchi’s appointment.
How Bagchi’s pay compares with Jagdishan’s
HDFC Bank’s FY26 annual report had provided a detailed look at what the leadership of India’s largest private lender took home during the year, including remuneration paid to Sashidhar Jagdishan.
Jagdishan received ₹3.31 crore in basic salary, ₹3.63 crore in allowances and perquisites, ₹39.70 lakh towards provident fund contributions and ₹49.64 lakh in superannuation benefits. He also received a performance bonus of ₹7.29 crore.Also Read: HDFC Bank new leadership to focus on three-pronged strategy: Exclusive
That adds up to around ₹15.3 crore in cash and other reported remuneration, excluding the value of the 4,28,405 stock options granted to him during FY26.
Bagchi’s proposed package is therefore substantially higher on an annualised basis, although the comparison is not like-for-like: his ₹35.90 crore figure includes a large performance-linked component and the ₹18.04 crore indicative value of ESOPs. The bank has said variable pay can be revised based on actual performance and remains subject to approvals from its governance committee, board and the RBI.
Bagchi, 56, joins HDFC Bank after more than three decades in financial services. He has held senior roles across banking, capital markets and insurance, including as executive director at ICICI Bank, CEO and MD of ICICI Securities and MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
The appointment marks the end of an unusually closely watched succession process at HDFC Bank, with Bagchi now set to take charge of the country’s largest private-sector lender at a time when the bank is looking to maintain growth while strengthening its retail, corporate and digital franchises.