Year-end bonuses to ICICI, Axis, HDFC bank CEOs on hold
What's the story
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is yet to approve the year-end bonuses to the CEOs of India's top private banks as it's questioning their payout size with respect to their performance.
According to Bloomberg, among the CEOs who haven't yet received bonuses for the financial year ended March 31, 2017, include those of HDFC, ICICI and Axis bank.
Read on for more.
Bonuses
Chanda Kochhar to get Rs. 2.2 crore as bonus
As per exchange filings, ICICI Bank's CEO Chanda Kochhar is to receive a bonus of Rs. 2.2 crore, Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma Rs. 1.35 crore and HDFC's Aditya Puri Rs 2.9 crore.
It's unusual for the RBI to not approve bonuses before March 31. But never before have so many skeletons tumbled out of the banking sector's proverbial closet in a year either.
Action
Modi government must clean up its act before 2019 election
Marred by disclosures of hidden bad/delinquent loans and alleged oversights in corporate governance, the last year has been a tough one for private banks in India.
Thanks to rising defaults, pressure is mounting on the Narendra Modi government to live up to its anti-graft image before the 2019 general election.
Details
Axis Bank had undisclosed bad loans worth Rs. 56 billion
According to an RBI audit, Axis Bank didn't reveal bad loans worth Rs. 56 billion in the year ending March 2017. Delinquent loans climbed for both HDFC and ICICI too, though they didn't disclose the exact amounts.
Meanwhile, Axis Bank's shares shot up about 10%, ICICI's by 17% and HDFC's 35% in Mumbai trading that year as Bankex Index added 33%.