Ashok Vaswani, appointed as the new CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank in January, received a salary of Rs 1.61 crore for his first three months at the bank, according to the bank’s annual report ending March 31, 2024, as per BSE data. His compensation comprised a basic salary of Rs 1.23 crore, allowances totaling Rs 20.42 lakhs, PF contributions amounting to Rs 16.83 lakhs, and an additional Rs 1 lakh under miscellaneous categories for the quarter. Vaswani also received 51,813 stock options for the year.
Former MD & CEO Uday Kotak, now serving as a non-executive director, took a nominal salary of Rs 1 until September 1, 2023. Shanti Ekambaram, deputy managing director, earned Rs 6.33 crore for FY24, which includes a basic salary of Rs 2.45 crore, annual incentives amounting to Rs 93.50 lakh, and 25,337 stock options. Dipak Gupta, former Joint MD and interim CEO until his retirement on December 31, 2023, received Rs 6.57 crore. KVS Manian, former Joint MD who resigned on April 30, 2024, received Rs 5.86 crore for the year.
Ashok Vaswani, renowned for his tenure at Barclays and Citigroup, where he was instrumental in digital banking innovations post the 2008 financial crisis, took over from Dipak Gupta, who served as interim MD & CEO after Uday Kotak’s resignation on September 2, 2023.
The report indicates that Vaswani’s salary was 13.40 times the mean pay for the bank’s employees (excluding sub-staff), while Dipak Gupta’s was 67.40 times, Shanti Ekambaram’s was 54.63 times, and KVS Manian’s was 50.18 times for FY24. The mean pay for all employees employed throughout FY23-24 and FY22-23 was Rs 0.12 lakh. Gupta’s remuneration included a one-time retirement benefit, Ekambaram’s covered five months (appointed as WTD effective November 2022), and Vaswani’s for Q4 FY24. Vaswani’s salary was 21.05 times that of the median employee, Ekambaram’s was 85.84 times, and Manian’s was 78.85 times.
