Kochhar’s salary set to rise after promotion

ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar could get a handsome hike in remuneration as she takes charge as the managing director & CEO of the country’s second-largest lender from May 1, 2009. She is currently the joint managing director and chief financial officer of the bank.

The board has recommended that her basic salary scale be hiked to Rs 7,00,000-Rs 13,50,000 from Rs 4,00,000-Rs 10,50,000 per month.

In 2007-08, Kochhar’s total remuneration, excluding stock options, was Rs 1.51 crore, including basic salary of Rs 66,00,000, performance bonus of Rs 22,44,000 and allowances and perquisites of Rs 44,75,244.

The total remuneration of former MD & CEO KV Kamath, who becomes non-executive Chairman from May 1, was Rs 2.66 crore in 2007-08.

Kochhar’s perquisites include furnished accommodation, gas, electricity, water and furnishings, club fees, personal insurance, use of car and telephone at residence or reimbursement of expenses in lieu thereof and payment of income tax on perquisites to the extend permissible.

In case company-owned accommodation is not provided, Kochhar would be eligible for house rent allowance of Rs 1,00,000 per month and maintenance of accommodation including furniture, fixtures and furnishings, the bank said in a notice to its shareholders.

In 2007-08, the bank had lowered performance bonus across the board by an average of 15 per cent and also decided against sanctioning annual increments for a large number of employees.

India has seen over 15 per cent rise in wage costs for the past three to four years. And, ICICI Bank's Kamath had last year said that the India cannot sustain salary increases of such order.