Insurance firm CEOs see pay hikes as Irdai tightens compensation rules

Bajaj Life CEO Tarun Chugh earned Rs 33.66 crore in FY26, more than three times the remuneration of the next-highest-paid chief executive, as regulatory scrutiny of insurer executive pay increases

Bajaj Life Insurance Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tarun Chugh was the highest-paid chief executive among India's life insurers in the year ended March 2026, a review of company disclosures showed, as insurers navigate new regulatory scrutiny over how they set executive pay.

 

Chugh earned total remuneration of Rs 33.66 crore in FY26, up 4 per cent from Rs 32.35 crore the previous year. The pay package comprised fixed compensation of Rs 8.37 crore, made up entirely of pay and allowances, and variable pay of Rs 21.50 crore, split between Rs 3.79 crore in cash and Rs 17.96 crore in non-cash components. For accounting purposes, Rs 4 crore was charged to the revenue account and Rs 22.79 crore to the profit and loss account, taking the total accounting charge to Rs 26.79 crore.

 

The payout came in a strong year for the insurer, whose total premium income rose 21.1 per cent to Rs 32,896.9 crore. Chugh has run Bajaj Life since 2017, making him one of the longest-serving CEOs in the sector.

 

The disclosures come as India's insurance regulator moves to tighten oversight of executive compensation. A recent circular ties the pay of key management personnel at insurance companies to a broader set of parameters, including regulatory compliance and grievance redressal, alongside traditional performance targets.

 

Aditya Mishra, MD and CEO of CIEL HR Services, said executive pay in the sector is largely a function of company performance and standing. "The salary of MD & CEOs of financial institutions is based on company performance, industry ranking of the company and the individual targets set by the company and achievements," he said.

 

Behind Chugh, the pay gap to the next tier of insurance chiefs was wide. Kamlesh Rao of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance was the second-highest earner among the group at Rs 10.45 crore, though that was down from Rs 11.20 crore in FY25. His fixed pay stood at Rs 4.99 crore, including Rs 20 lakh in perquisites, while variable pay of Rs 5.46 crore was split between Rs 2.20 crore in cash and Rs 3.26 crore in deferred components, with no share-linked element. The insurer separately paid out Rs 1.75 crore in deferred remuneration relating to earlier years, and granted Rao 335,731 stock options and performance stock units under Aditya Birla Capital's 2022 employee scheme, disclosed without an assigned monetary value.

 

Other insurers showed sharper year-on-year swings. Canara HSBC Life Insurance's Anuj Mathur saw his pay jump to Rs 10.32 crore from Rs 6.32 crore, with fixed pay of Rs 3.80 crore and variable pay of Rs 5.57 crore that included a Rs 4.22 crore deferred share-linked component. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's Anup Bagchi also saw a rise, to Rs 10.04 crore from Rs 7.42 crore, with fixed pay of Rs 6.81 crore and variable pay of Rs 3.23 crore paid entirely in non-cash instruments; he was additionally granted 536,500 equity options as deferred pay for FY25 performance.

 

Pay was flatter at two of the country's largest insurers. HDFC Life's Vibha Padalkar, the only woman heading a major Indian life insurer, received Rs 9.47 crore, marginally higher than Rs 9.26 crore a year earlier, with variable pay of Rs 3.31 crore paid entirely in cash. At the lower end of the scale, SBI Life's Amit Jhingran was paid Rs 1.96 crore, up slightly from Rs 1.91 crore.

 

The insurers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

The figures also underscore a pay gap between insurers and their banking parents. HDFC Bank's MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan earned Rs 15.13 crore in FY26, while ICICI Bank's Sandeep Bakhshi was paid Rs 10.62 crore — both ahead of their insurance arms' top earners.