Tarun Chugh of Bajaj Life Insurance tops the list of highest-paid chief executives in India’s life insurance sector in fiscal 2026, as new regulatory measures push insurers to tie executive compensation to customer-centric performance metrics.
Tarun Chugh of Bajaj Life Insurance was the highest-paid chief executive in India’s life insurance industry in fiscal 2026, taking home total remuneration of Rs 33.66 crore, according to disclosures reported by Business Standard. That was up 4% from Rs 32.35 crore a year earlier, in a year when Bajaj Life’s total premium income climbed 21.1% to Rs 32,896.9 crore. Chugh has led the company since 2017, making him one of the sector’s longest-serving CEOs.
His package included Rs 8.37 crore in fixed compensation and Rs 21.50 crore in variable pay, with the performance-linked portion split between Rs 3.79 crore in cash and Rs 17.96 crore in non-cash instruments. The insurer said Rs 4 crore was booked to the revenue account and Rs 22.79 crore to the profit and loss account, bringing the total accounting charge to Rs 26.79 crore.
The disclosures come as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India moves to tighten oversight of executive pay. According to reports in Financial Express, the revised framework requires at least 50% of variable pay for key management personnel to be tied to customer-facing measures such as claims servicing, grievance redressal and product performance from fiscal 2026-27, with insurers also facing stricter disclosure expectations.
The gap between Chugh and other top insurance executives was substantial. Kamlesh Rao of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance earned Rs 10.45 crore, down from Rs 11.20 crore in fiscal 2025, while Anuj Mathur of Canara HSBC Life Insurance and Anup Bagchi of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance each crossed Rs 10 crore after sharp increases. HDFC Life’s Vibha Padalkar received Rs 9.47 crore and SBI Life’s Amit Jhingran was paid Rs 1.96 crore. Aditya Birla Capital adviser Aditya Mishra said senior pay in financial services tends to reflect company performance, industry ranking and individual targets, while the insurers named in the disclosures did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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