Top private banks brace for a series of succession tests

A clutch of top private banks will decide by the end of next year who their new chief executives would be, and while the incumbents remain eligible, industry experts are keen on clarity over the second line of leadership.

- Shayan Ghosh & Devina Sengupta

Chief executive officers (CEOs) of five prominent private sector banks—HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC First Bank—will require regulatory nod for another term. While the board of ICICI Bank has already approved a shorter-than-usual two-year term for CEO Sandeep Bakhshi, HDFC Bank’s Sashidhar Jagdishan is willing to serve another term. And there are no disclosures yet on the reappointment of Ashok Vaswani of Kotak, whose term ends in December 2026.

Bakhshi and Jagdishan’s current tenures end in October 2026. For Axis Bank and IDFC First Bank, the CEO tenures will end in December 2027.

Under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations, private bank chiefs can stay for up to 15 years or till they turn 70. While the current CEOs of these five banks are eligible for renewal, the market is also watching if the lenders groomed second-rung leaders during their tenures.

Of late, India’s private lenders have seen external candidates join as chief executives. After billionaire banker Uday Kotak stepped down in September 2023, the bank hired Vaswani, a former executive at Barclays.

Federal Bank decided to go with K.V.S. Manian, whose last role was at Kotak Mahindra Bank, and was widely seen as a potential successor to Kotak.