Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 08: HDFC Bank plans annual pay of up to ₹35.90 crore for Anup Bagchi. Most of it depends on performance and stock options. Shareholders vote through a postal ballot closing on 6 November.
HDFC Bank has proposed annual pay of up to ₹35.90 crore for Anup Bagchi. The incoming chief executive could become India’s highest-paid bank CEO if shareholders agree.
Bagchi’s guaranteed fixed pay is ₹8.97 crore a year, according to the bank’s disclosures. This covers a basic salary of ₹3.32 crore and housing benefits of ₹1.66 crore. A ₹54 lakh car allowance, other allowances and retirement perquisites complete the fixed portion.
The larger share is variable and tied to performance. It can reach ₹26.92 crore, or three times his fixed pay. About ₹8.88 crore of this would come as cash incentives. Half of that cash would be deferred over three years. The remaining ₹18.04 crore would be granted as employee stock options. The bank valued each option at ₹253.42 using the Black-Scholes model. These options vest over four years, so their final worth depends on the share price. The headline figure is therefore a maximum, not a guaranteed cash salary.
Bagchi will also receive a separate one-time joining incentive worth ₹7.35 crore. It includes restricted stock units worth ₹3.19 crore and options valued at ₹4.16 crore. Both portions vest over four years. Adding this award lifts the combined headline value to about ₹43.24 crore.
The Reserve Bank of India has already cleared the appointment and pay proposal. HDFC Bank must still secure shareholder consent through a postal ballot. Electronic voting opened on 8 October and will close on 6 November. Bagchi is due to take charge on 27 October for a three-year term.
Outgoing chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan received ₹28.65 crore in FY26. Deputy managing director Kaizad Bharucha earned ₹26.32 crore in the same year. At rival lenders, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Ashok Vaswani received ₹17.24 crore. ICICI Bank’s Sandeep Bakhshi was paid around ₹10.64 crore. These figures are not strictly comparable with Bagchi’s proposal. Reported FY26 pay measures stock-option benefits differently from Bagchi’s grant-date valuations.
Bagchi’s estimated FY26 pay at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance was about ₹18.9 crore. That estimate includes an indicative valuation of his stock options. The new package would lift his potential earnings by roughly 90 per cent.
Bagchi, 56, inherits significant challenges at India’s largest private sector lender. HDFC Bank wants to revive retail loan growth and improve its margins. It is still working through integration issues following its merger with HDFC. Governance concerns have also weighed on investor confidence.
The pay structure links much of Bagchi’s reward to long-term results. Deferred cash and four-year vesting spread his rewards across several years. Shareholders must now decide whether the package matches the scale of the task. The proposal sets a new reference point for bank CEO pay in India.
