The State Bank of India will be buying 60 apartments to house executives in south Mumbai. The state-owned bank has called in applications from architects interested in the project, reported The Mint. The architects, who will also be helping the bank as project consultants, will be selected based on a design competition. They will supervise the project developments which will be either ready or under construction, preferably available in block exclusive for the state-owned lender.
The architects will be paid 0.5 per cent of the total project cost, estimated to be Rs 500 crore. SBI is eyeing to buy these apartments in South Mumbai neighbourhoods like Parel, Lower Parel, Worli and Mahalaxmi. The new project will add to the bank’s existing strength of 500 apartments including one-, two- and three-bedroom, hall, and kitchen sizes across Mumbai.
State-owned banks like SBI compensate for the big difference in the package of their employees with private sector rivals with generous perks that include accommodation.
The comparatively low pay packages at government sector lenders have often become a topic of debate. In a recent interview, Rajnish Kumar, SBI’s former chairman revealed that his annual salary for the top job was Rs 28 lakh despite the bank’s balance sheet of Rs 50 lakh crore.
In contrast, private sector banks offer a hefty pay package to their top executives. For example, Amitabh Chaudhary, managing director (MD & CEO) of Axis Bank earned a total of Rs 7.62 crore as salary, according to the bank’s annual report of FY22. HDFC Bank CEO and MD Sashidhar Jagdishan received an annual salary of Rs 6.51 crore whereas ICICI Bank CEO Sandeep Bakshi took home Rs 7.08 crore in 2022. According to the recent annual report, the salary of the current SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara is Rs 37 lakh, 7.5 per cent more than the last fiscal year.
Rajnish Kumar called the low package of the SBI chairman “unfair” while speaking on a podcast with YouTuber Raj Shamani. However, he went on to reveal the generous perks that the SBI chairman gets for his service. This includes a car worth Rs 30-40 lakh, and a luxurious bungalow in Malabar Hilla, which in today’s real estate market would command a monthly rent of Rs 2 to 2.5 crore a month.
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