HDFC Bank's latest annual report shows an unusual pay gap at the top: Deputy Managing Director Kaizad Bharucha earned ₹17.14 crore in FY26, more than MD & CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan's ₹15.13 crore.
The gap is explained by Bharucha's variable pay. His performance-linked bonus nearly doubled to ₹8.59 crore, and his ESOP grants rose fivefold to 6.23 lakh shares.
Jagdishan's FY26 was dominated by steering the post-merger integration of the HDFC empire, a long-horizon structural task. Bharucha, meanwhile, ran the wholesale banking engine that delivered immediate P&L results.
The outcome underscores that at HDFC Bank, compensation tracks measurable business execution over corporate title.








