ICICI Bank chief executive Sandeep Bakshi let go a year’s salary due to the coronavirus pandemic while his counterparts in HDFC Bank and Axis Bank took home fat pay packets.
Bakshi voluntarily relinquished his fixed compensation of basic and supplementary allowances for FY21. Even in FY20, the chief of India’s second-largest private lender did not take his performance bonus while the others in the top management took theirs. His basic salary for 2019-20 was Rs 2,85,72,000 (Rs 2.85 crore).
“Managing director & CEO voluntarily relinquished his fixed compensation of basic, supplementary allowances and retirals for fiscal 2021 and was paid honorarium fee of Re 1 for the year,” as per the bank’s annual report.
Bakhshi, however, received allowances and perquisites amounting to Rs 38.38 lakh and a performance bonus of Rs 63.60 lakh from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company as deferred variable pay for FY17 and FY18.
The select top management of ICICI Bank took a 10% cut in salary from 1 May, as per the annual report. Axis Bank, the third-largest private lender, did not hike the salaries of its top management for FY21.
Aditya Puri, former managing director and chief executive of HDFC Bank, continued to be the highest paid banker in his retirement year as he took home a pay cheque of Rs 13.82 crore. His successor Sashidhar Jagdishan, who took over as the chief executive and managing director of the largest private lender, took home a pay packet of Rs 4.77 crore for the fiscal year, which included payments as a group head till his elevation. Puri's overall payments included Rs 3.5 crore as post-retirement benefits.
Amitabh Chaudhry, who has been leading Axis Bank, got paid Rs 6.52 crore, the bank's annual report said, adding that the top management was not given any salary increment in FY21.
In the case of ICICI Bank, material risk takers including executive directors, chief financial officer (CFO) and company secretary voluntarily opted for a 10% salary reduction from 1 May, the annual report stated, as the pandemic swept the country impacting the operating efficiencies of most banks.
