Total salary of top 10 PSU banks' heads was less than half of Axis Bank's chief's payout in FY24

The aggregate salaries of the top 10 state-owned banks came to Rs 4.46 crore in FY24.

The combined take-home salaries of the heads of the 10 biggest state-owned banks was less than half the compensation paid to Axis Bank's top executive in 2023-24, according to the annual report of banks analysed by Moneycontrol.

The aggregate salaries of the top 10 state-owned banks came to Rs 4.46 crore in FY24, while Axis Bank's managing director and CEO earned Rs 9.10 crore, including stock options and other perquisites.

So far, among private banks, only Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank have released their annual reports. Moneycontrol analysed the annual reports of State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra.

The stark difference in the annual salaries of public and private sector bank executives is due to performance incentives being a component of private banks’ annual remuneration.

A private bank chief’s salary hinges on multiple factors, such as the overall performance of the bank, including net profit, the performance of subsidiaries, and dividend payouts, among others. Private bank heads also own shares in their companies under ESOP or employee stock ownership plan perks, something not available to their public sector counterparts.

Kotak Mahindra Bank MD and CEO Ashok Vaswani took home Rs 1.83 crore in the previous financial year, while for Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO of Axis Bank, the figure was Rs 9.11 crore.

As per Axis Bank’s annual report, Chaudhry was granted 313,300 stock options for FY23 and approval for the same was received from the Reserve Bank of India in FY24.

“The stock options were granted at Rs 848.80 per share which was the closing market price prevailing on the day prior to the date of grant on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited,” the annual report said.

As per the annual reports of 10 state-owned banks, managing directors and chief executive officers took home salaries in the range of Rs 34 lakh to Rs 74 lakh in FY24.

AS Rajeev, then MD and CEO of Bank of Maharashtra, earned Rs 74 lakh in FY24, which is one of the highest in his cohort.

This was followed by Indian Bank MD and CEO Shanti Lal Jain's Rs 47.53 lakh, and Central Bank MD and CEO MV Rao's Rs 44.46 lakh.

The annual compensation for Dinesh Kumar Khara, the chairman of the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), was Rs 39.42 lakh, and that of Bank of Baroda’s chief was  Rs 44.38 lakh in FY24.

Khara got Rs 27 lakh as basic and dearness allowance of Rs 12.42 lakh in 2023-24.

Debadatta Chand, the MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda, received Rs 44.38 lakh as total pay, which included Rs 39.01 lakh as salary and Rs 5.37 lakh in perquisites.

“The Managing Director & CEO and Executive Directors (whole time directors) are paid remuneration by way of salary as per rules framed by the Government of India. At present the Bank has no Stock Option Scheme,” Bank of Baroda said in its annual report.