Ashok Vaswani of Kotak Mahindra Bank takes home ₹12.95 crore in FY25

Ashok Vaswani, who took charge as Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank in January 2024, received a total remuneration of ₹12.95 crore in FY25, according to the bank’s latest annual report. For the final quarter of FY24, his compensation stood at ₹1.61 crore.

Stock appreciation rights (SARs), which accounted for 44% of his total FY25 pay, formed the largest component of his package. The rest comprised ₹4.93 crore in basic salary, ₹81.69 lakh in allowances, ₹67.31 lakh towards provident fund, and ₹78.13 lakh as annual incentives. Vaswani was also granted 18,580 stock options during the year.

Deputy Managing Director Shanti Ekambaram earned ₹6.62 crore in FY25, including ₹2.84 crore as basic pay and ₹1.17 crore as annual incentives. She received 27,760 stock options during the year.

Among other top executives, Whole-Time Director Jaideep Hansraj earned ₹49.35 lakh for his tenure between February 11 and March 31, 2025. Former Joint MD K.V.S. Manian, who exited in April 2024, received ₹73.56 lakh for his one-month stint in FY25.

The bank clarified that SARs are treated as variable pay, settled in cash, and linked to the market price of the bank’s shares on specific dates. Kotak Mahindra Bank shares rose 21.6% during FY25, outperforming the Nifty Bank index, which gained 9.5%.

For the full year, the bank’s average employee remuneration stood at ₹13 lakh, up from ₹12 lakh in FY24. Total employee expenses rose 15.6% to ₹11,964 crore. The bank’s consolidated net profit for FY25 grew 21% year-on-year to ₹22,126 crore.

Notably, Founder Uday Kotak, who stepped down earlier, drew an average pay of ₹2.5 crore during FY19–FY21 but chose to forgo remuneration in FY22 and FY23. As of March 2025, the bank’s headcount stood at over 75,000.

Also Read: Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Q1 advances rise 14% on-year; deposits up 13%