Indian business leaders are making waves globally, not just for their strategic acumen but also for their astronomical paychecks. As the country emerges as a talent powerhouse, its top executives are commanding unprecedented compensation packages. From the IT corridors to corporate boardrooms, the remuneration of these leaders is raising eyebrows and sparking debate.

The world is looking at India as a huge source of talent pool. Ranging from new entrants to mid-level executives to company CEOs. Recently, Germany's labour minister Hubertus Heil shared his intent to hire a high number of skilled workforce from India. Transportation, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, engineering, and IT are among 70 occupations most affected by the labour shortage in Germany.

Besides being a huge talent pool to global economies, CEOs from India make headlines for the salary they are drawing. Recently, HCL Tech’s C Vijayakumar was in the news as the highest-paid Indian IT CEO.

According to HCL Tech's annual report, Vijayakumar who has been re-appointed as CEO for the next year earned Rs84.16 crore in FY23-24.  His salary saw a substantial increase of 190.75 percent compared to the previous year.

Here is the list of other top-paid CEOs in India

Srinivas Pallia, CEO, Wipro

Before C Vijayakumar, Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia was the highest paid CEO in the IT industry. Srinivas who succeeded Thierry Delaporte in April 2024 gets an annual payment of $4.33 million. Thierry Delaporte who resigned a year before his tenure got $10.1 million (Rs 83 crore), which was 0.089 per cent of the company's $11.16 billion revenue. Pallia has been appointed to the post for five years, effective April 7, 2024.

Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh's salary saw a 21% drop to Rs 56.44 crore in FY 23, before falling further to Rs 25.4 crore in FY 24. His pay accounted for just 0.037% of the company's $18.1 billion revenue. Parekh was re-appointed as CEO and MD of Infosys for a five-year term in 2022.

K. Krithivasan, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services

K. Krithivasan who was nominated as the CEO of Tata Consultancy Services after Rajesh Gopinathan stepped down from the company to pursue his other interests in 2023, took home a salary of Rs 25.4 crore in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Krithivasan’s salary is less than his predecessor Rajesh Gopinathan who took home Rs 29.16 crore which accounts for 0.012 percent of the company's $27.9 billion revenue.

Ravi Kumar Singisetti, CEO, Cognizant

Ravi Kumar Singisetti, who has been leading Cognizant since January 2023, emerged as India’s highest-paid CEO for the fiscal year 2023. Singisetti’s compensation package reached an eye-watering Rs 186 crore, setting a new benchmark in executive pay in the country’s IT sector.

Average compensation of a CEO in India

According to the Deloitte India Executive Performance and Rewards Survey 2025, median compensation for no-promoter or professional CEOs now stands at Rs10 crore; up by 13 percent compared with the previous year. Only 40 percent of total CEO compensation is fixed and the remaining 60 percent is at-risk. Short-term incentives or annual bonuses comprise 25 percent of total CEO compensation and long-term incentives constitute the balance of 35 percent. The pay for other CXOs such as COOs, CFOs, CHROs, CMOs and CSOs over the last year saw an increase, ranging between 7 percent and 11 percent. Approximately 60 percent of total CXO pay is fixed while the remaining is equally split between short-term and long-term incentives. COOs and CFOs continue to be the highest paid executive positions after the CEO with a total compensation nearing Rs4 crore.

Anandorup Ghose, Partner, Deloitte India, said, “CXO compensation continues to rise in India with this talent pool remaining restricted and consequently in high demand. We are yet to observe any negative impact of the ongoing correction in the equity markets on CXO compensation. That may come through in next year’s numbers given the high linkage of CXO compensation with equity prices. NRCs are already taking cognizance of the rising market volatility and may alter the approach for compensation reviews going forward. Apart from the CEO, we observe significant compensation corrections in the legal, risk and compliance functions where absolute compensation has historically lagged other functions.”

 Performance, incentives and governance

 The survey points to an increased focus on holistic functional or business performance assessments in short-term incentives—beyond being purely financial—at a CXO level. However, long-term incentives are driven more through a singular focus on financial performance. Most companies continue to use a scorecard approach while assessing CEO and CXO performances comprising financial and strategic priorities. To ensure progress, particularly concerning strategic targets, organisations are increasing the emphasis on performance on such lead metrics while determining short-term annual bonus payments. India Inc. is also paying lesser bonuses to CXOs for missing financial and strategic targets compared with the year before.

The study reveals that not only are more companies granting share-based long-term incentives now but also the quantum of pay linked to stock awards and the cost incurred by companies on these plans is rising. Additionally, there is more scrutiny on new share-based plan approvals than ever witnessed before, with proxy-advisory firms challenging management proposals and influencing voting outcomes. Shareholder rejection rates have gone up four times the past one year alone.

Dinkar Pawan, Director, Deloitte India, said, “Share-based pay is becoming more intricate with the rising use of performance shares and multiple plans. New proposals are being put under the microscope to ensure that the interest of all stakeholders is protected. This is a welcome development as enhanced governance leads to better decisions. We are already seeing clear improvements in the quality of proposals going to the shareholders.”

The survey also reveals that with CEO and CXO tenures getting shorter and performance expectations and shareholder activism rising; there is more upward pressure on pay and benefits and executive contracts are being heavily negotiated.