Amitabh Chaudhry likely to replace Shikha Sharma as CEO of Axis Bank, say reports

Mumbai: With the term of Shikha Sharma, current CEO at Axis Bank coming to an end on 31 December, 2018, Amitabh Chaudhry, managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Life Insurance is slated to take over Sharma, according to news reports.CNBC-TV18 tweeted the news that the news attained prominence in the background of reports that Chaudhry had sold 2.56 lakh shares of HDFC life on 21-22 August, 2018.The sale of shares was mentioned in an Economic Times report today. It said, according to ET data collated from block-deal information on the bourses, Chaudhry had sold 1,162,044 shares between April 26 and August 20 on the National Stock Exchange. Shares of HDFC Life closed 1.06 percent higher to Rs 467.55. The stock has risen 50 percent post listing at Rs 314 a share."Amitabh has appeared for the interview and a final approval from the Reserve Bank is pending,” a source privy to the development told ET.News reports have been mentioning of this likely development for some time now.[caption id="attachment_4447551" align="alignleft" width="380"] Logo of Axis Bank . Reuters[/caption]In July Axis Bank had said that it had shortlisted three candidates for Sharma.In a regulatory filing to the bourses, the bank said:  “In terms of extant Reserve Bank of India norms and the Succession Planning Process of the bank, the board of directors of the bank, at its meeting held on July 9, has recommended the names of three candidates in order of preference for the approval of the RBI.”The bank had announced that it had appointed global leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder to recommend a successor to Sharma.Sharma had in April announced her decision to step down from the position of MD and CEO of the bank by the end of the year. Her term was to end in June 2021, with the board in December 2017 announcing a three-year extension of her term that was then to end in June 2018. However, RBI did not give its nod for further three-year extension.