Anup Bagchi becomes Managing Director and CEO of HDFC Bank on October 27, 2026. The Reserve Bank of India approved his appointment and remuneration on October 1 for three years, through October 26, 2029. He succeeds Sashidhar Jagdishan, who completes his tenure at the close of business on October 26. Bagchi joined the board as an Additional Director on October 2, and his appointment as MD and CEO will go to shareholders for approval.
Bagchi brings more than three decades with the ICICI Group, which he joined in 1992. His career spans treasury, retail banking, wholesale banking, investment banking and digital financial services. He was CEO and MD of ICICI Securities. As Executive Director of ICICI Bank from 2017 to 2023, he oversaw Retail, Business and Rural Banking, and later Wholesale Banking. Since June 2023 he has led ICICI Prudential Life Insurance as MD and CEO. In FY2025 the insurer’s Annualised Premium Equivalent crossed Rs 10,000 crore for the first time, rising 15% to Rs 10,407 crore, while profit after tax grew nearly 40% to Rs 1,189 crore. He studied engineering at IIT Kanpur and management at IIM Bangalore.
The leadership transition extends beyond the top job. On October 17, the bank disclosed that Deputy Managing Director Kaizad Bharucha has asked to step down from the close of business on December 31, 2026, ending an association of more than three decades. The Governance, Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the board accepted his request, which will go to the RBI for approval. The board described Bharucha as “one of the principal architects” of the bank’s credit framework, which it called one of its defining institutional strengths. At the same meeting, the board re-appointed former RBI Executive Director Lily Vadera as an Independent Director for three years from November 26, 2026.
Herald View
HDFC Bank is renewing its leadership in one coordinated sequence. Bagchi brings a long record of building retail and insurance businesses. Bharucha leaves behind a credit framework the board counts among the bank’s defining strengths. The new CEO starts with that foundation in place, and with the room to shape his own leadership team around it.
