Amitabh Chaudhry, 54 has been appointed as the next CEO of Axis Bank. Chaudhary will be the next Head once Shikha Sharma resigns from her office.

 He will be appointed as the MD & CEO for 3 years from January 1, 2019, and is supposed to continue working at his position till December 31, 2021.

Amitabh is currently the managing director of HDFC Life. It was well speculated that he would be the next boss at Axis.

In a notice to the BSE Axis Bank said that "We wish to inform you that the Board of Directors (the Board) of the Bank at its meeting held today has taken on record the approval granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the appointment of Shri Amitabh Chaudhry as the Managing Director & CEO of the Bank for a period of 3 years with effect from 1 January, 2019 up to 31 December, 2021 (both days inclusive) and the terms and conditions relating to the said appointment, including remuneration,"

The Axis board will further meet to approve the appointment of Chaudhry as additional director. 

Sanjiv Misra, chairman, Axis Bank said that he and his team of fellow directors were pleased to welcome Amitabh as the Bank's MD & CEO. He further added that “Amitabh has a proven track record and is worthy enough to lead Axis Bank in pursuing its goals and ambitions balanced with a strong emphasis on risk and compliance management," said

Chaudhry has been widely recognized for HDFC Standard Life’s successful IPO earlier this year. He has worked with the insurance company for almost 8 years starting from January 2010.

Amitabh has a degree in B.Tech Electronic & Electricals from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani and is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. 

He started his career in 1987 in corporate banking with Bank of America. He then moved to CALYON Bank as its managing director and headed South East Asian investment banking and Head technology investment banking. 
He has also worked for Infosys BPO from 2003 to 2006.

In a press release, Chaudhary thanked the Bank and said that he was thankful that the RBI and the Axis Bank Board had given him with this opportunity to lead the great institution.  He quoted “Axis Bank is amongst the primary private sector banks in the country. Together, with the support of the Board and the Axis team, I am positive about continuing the bank's remarkable journey these past 25 years and to add to its future growth,"

Earlier this year, Amitabh Chaudhary sold shares worth rupees 55.77 Crores between April and August which made it very much evident that he is looking forward to his appointment at Axis Bank.

Amitabh will be the reviving star for the Axis Bank after three years of its struggle with increasing bad loans which it had lent to the infrastructure sector. 

The bank board had decided last year, to reappoint Shikha Sharma as the MD & CEO, for a period of three years, till June 2021. But due to the questions raised by RBI about her re-appointment despite low-performance records and NPAs (non-performing assets) and issues relating to the earning leaks over Whatsapp she stepped down.