Bankers gloomy as RBI scans salaries

Despondency boardrooms stalks and corner offices of private banks, as the regulator keeps top-level compensation under its thumb to prevent risk-taking of the kind that led to the global financial crisis of 2007-08. In several instances, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to approve a pay hike, delayed approving higher remuneration or even directed an outright pay cut.

- Gopika Gopakumar

For instance, six months after he was promoted as executive director at IDFC First Bank Ltd, Madhivanan Balakrishnan stepped down in December. In his resignation letter, Balakrishnan, who joined IDFC First in 2019 as chief operating officer, said he plans to pursue an opportunity in healthcare that matches his long-term plans for his family and offers higher pay.

Two bankers aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity that RBI had approved his new salary with a 25-30% cut (from above 3 crore earlier) after he was elevated as whole-time director in June 2023. The central bank felt Balakrishnan was already drawing a high package based on his previous experience at ICICI Bank Ltd (where he was chief technology and digital officer), and IDFC First being a smaller bank could not pay as much, they said.

"The logic that RBI gave in Balakrishnan's case was that IDFC First Bank was in the second cluster of banks. The regulator is doing benchmark comparison based on the size of banks," the first banker said.

The issue gains importance because such oversight by RBI could lead to a talent crunch in the top management of private banks. "Balakrishnan's exit has touched a raw nerve. The main question is, how to retain talent in banking if RBI continues to be so stringent with compensation," said a former chief executive officer (CEO) of a private sector bank.