HDFC Life's Amitabh Chaudhry appointed as CEO & MD of Axis Bank

Chaudhry will replace outgoing MD & CEO Shikha Sharma whose term ends on December 31

Amitabh Chaudhry has been appointed managing director and chief executive of Axis Bank for a three-year term. He will take charge on January 1, 2019.

Chaudhry, 54, will succeed the current MD & CEO Shikha Sharma, whose term ends on December 31. Chaudhry, who’s MD & CEO at HDFC Life Insurance, has resigned from the post.

The board of private sector lender Axis Bank on Saturday vetted Chaudhry’s appointment after getting approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Axis Bank said in a statement. The bank board considered the terms and conditions relating to Chaudhry’s appointment including his remuneration. In July, the bank had submitted three names for the top job to the RBI. 

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company will now hold a meeting on September 12 to decide on the new CEO.

Chaudhry, an engineering graduate from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani and an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, has been associated with HDFC Life since January 2010. He had earlier held senior management positions in Bank of America, Calyon Bank and Infosys BPO. 

In April, the bank had announced that Sharma requested the board to reconsider the period of her re-appointment to be revised from June 1 to December 31. Soon after, the bank had appointed Egon Zehnder, a global leadership advisory firm, to find Sharma’s successor.

Last December, the bank board had decided to reappoint Sharma as the MD & CEO, for a period of three years, till June 2021. 

Sharma stepped down after the RBI raised questions over her re-appointment despite the rising non-performing assets (NPAs) and governance issues such as inquiries into earning leaks over social media chat service Whatsapp.