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Branch boy to CEO: Who is ICICI Life’s Mishra?

By Sohail Khan 2 October 2026, 5:50 pm

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Business News›Industry›Banking/Finance›Banking›From Bhubaneswar classrooms to ICICI Life’s corner office: Who is Sidharatha Mishra

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From Bhubaneswar classrooms to ICICI Life’s corner office: Who is Sidharatha Mishra
Synopsis

Who is Sidharatha Mishra, the veteran who will take over as the COO and CEO of ICICI Life Insurance soon? He has spent nearly three decades at ICICI Bank, progressing through various roles including branch manager and digital operations head. His appointment follows Anup Bagchi's departure after significant contributions over three years. Mishra's background in retail banking and digital channels will aid his leadership transition.

Who is Sidharatha Mishra, ICICI Life Insurance’s next chief

Sidharatha Mishra's career at ICICI Bank has been a journey through the bank's retail franchise, spanning from managing a branch to running regional and zonal businesses to overseeing digital channels, partnerships and customer service.

Now, that experience is taking him to the top of ICICI Life Insurance.

ICICI Life Insurance on Thursday appointed Mishra as chief operating officer with effect from October 6 and as an additional director and managing director and CEO with effect from October 14.

From a branch in Visakhapatnam to the CEO chair

Mishra’s nearly three-decade career at ICICI Bank has taken him from the branch floor to some of the bank’s most customer-facing businesses. He joined as a management trainee in 1998, became a deputy branch manager and then ran a branch in Visakhapatnam.

From there, he moved through regional and zonal retail banking roles across West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, before becoming retail business head for East and Andhra Pradesh in 2018.

The next leg of his career took him from branches to digital. Since July 2024, he has headed digital channels, NRI business, IFIG, voice channel and customer service at ICICI Bank.

It is this mix of frontline banking, large retail franchises and digital operations that Mishra now brings to ICICI Prudential Life, which makes the move less a departure from his career path than its next turn.

A career built inside ICICI

Mishra has spent more than 26 years in banking, almost all of them at ICICI Bank, where his career has moved through branches, regional and state-level retail operations and, more recently, digital and customer-facing businesses.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in science and a postgraduate diploma in management, specialising in finance, from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.

His move to ICICI Prudential Life also follows a familiar route within the group. Bagchi, whom he succeeds, had spent years at ICICI Bank before moving to the insurer.

Also Read: HDFC Bank names ICICI veteran Anup Bagchi as MD & CEO

Mishra’s appointment keeps that thread intact: a banker who has grown through the ICICI system now moving into the top job at one of the group’s key financial-services businesses.

What Mishra inherits

Mishra will take charge of ICICI Life at a point when the company is moving from one long-serving ICICI Group veteran to another.

Bagchi, who became MD and CEO of the insurer in 2023, is leaving after steering the company for three years. The board, in its October 2 filing, credited him with helping the company emerge as a resilient franchise and placed on record its appreciation for his contribution to the ICICI Group over three decades.

Mishra's immediate transition has been structured to begin before Bagchi's departure. He will join as COO on October 6, giving him a short handover period before taking over as MD and CEO from October 14, or the date of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India approval, whichever is later.

For Mishra, the move marks the culmination of a 28-year journey within ICICI Bank: one that began on the branch floor and moved progressively towards larger retail franchises, digital channels and customer operations.

His next role will put that accumulated experience to work from the other side of the financial-services business.

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