Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma’s Pay Hike In FY18

Axis Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shikha Sharma saw her basic salary increase by 7.8 percent to Rs 2.91 crore last year ending March, according to bank's annual report for 2017-18.

Her basic salary stood at over Rs 2.70 crore in the preceding fiscal.

Among others, Sharma got Rs 97.1 lakh as house rent allowance, Rs 14.8 lakh as leave fare concession, perquisites (excluding ESOPs) worth over Rs 32.1 lakh and deferred variable pay (for 2013-14 and 2014-15) of Rs 44.1 lakh during 2017-18, the report showed.

Perquisites include bank's furnished accommodation, club fees, personal accident insurance, loans, use of car and telephone, medical reimbursement, travelling and halting allowance, among others.

Besides, there were superannuation allowances equivalent to 10 percent of the basic pay, provident fund as 12 percent of the basic pay and gratuity equivalent to one month's salary for each completed year of service.

Gross salary of the chief executive came in at Rs 4.88 crore for the financial year 2017-18. Additionally, there were 5,40,000 stock options in her portfolio during the year.

In the report, Sharma underlined some major challenges the Indian banking sector as a whole facing on multiple fronts, including operational and assets quality front.

The bank's MD and CEO said that the financial year 2017-18 was a mixed bag for the lender.

Apart from the lingering asset quality problems, there were some serious issues around fraud and operational misses that came to the fore towards the later part of the year, she said.

While these challenges are real, the banking industry remains a force for inclusive growth in the country, she added.

"The bank has taken significant steps in financial year 2017-18 to get past the asset quality issues of this cycle, and the top priority for us in financial year 2018-19 will be to achieve normalisation of credit risk. The second focus area would be to deliver profitable growth," Sharma said in the annual report.

Axis Bank would enhance its capabilities to strengthen operational risk management and re-invent corporate bank driven by technology.

"The fourth deliverable for financial year 2018-19 is to continue investing in digital capabilities, analytics and our subsidiaries to drive future growth," she said in her message.