Mumbai: Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma wants her new term to be reduced to seven months from three-year tenure that has been approved by the bank’s board. The Axis Bank board has accepted her request for a shorter seven-month term (from 1 June to 31 December 2018), subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the bank said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
Sharma would be completing her third term as managing and chief executive of Axis Bank on 31 May.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, Axis Bank said that on December 8 last year, the board had decided to reappoint Sharma as the managing director and chief executive for a period of three years with effect from 1 June 2018, subject to receipt of requisite approvals. The reappointment, however, was yet to get the approval of RBI.
“In this connection kindly note that Smt. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director & CEO of the Bank, has requested the Board to reconsider the period of her reappointment as the Managing Director and CEO of the Bank to be revised from June 1, 2018 up to December 31, 2018,” the bank said.
The filing did not elaborate why Sharma wanted her fourth term to be curtailed to seven months from three years.
The board, the filing said, has “accepted” her said request, subject to the approval of RBI.
The private sector lender’s NPAs jumped by over five-fold in recent financial years. The gross NPAs worth Rs4,110 crore at the end of March 2015 surged to Rs 21,280 crore at the end of March 2017. During the same period, the lender’s net profit halved from Rs7,357.8 crore to Rs3,679.2 crore.
On Monday, shares of Axis Bank Ltd rose 3.44%, or Rs17.20, to Rs517.90 on the BSE while the benchmark Sensex gained 0.48%, or 161.57 points, to end the day at 33,788.54.