Today, the portfolio of a CEO is of utmost importance which determines much of the company's progress or failure. Hence, as CEO of the company, the position has always demanded crucial responsibilities which include right from making major corporate decisions, to managing overall operations and resources. Also, they act as a bridge between the board of directors and the company’s employees and operations. The CEO plays a pivotal role in shaping the goals and ensuring those are met as per the dedicated time stamp. With this, CEOs must have an eye on how his/her company/organization/group interacts with customers, partners, and the public as a whole.
So, given the roles and responsibilities that a CEO has to shoulder, the CEO’s role is a tough one to fill. Therefore, it is likely that they are paid handsomely. And if we have to go as per a credible report, the typical compensation for CEOs of S&P 500 companies is increasing day by day..
Additionally, an important aspect that has snowballed the upsurge in CEO salaries is the shift towards shareholder capitalism. As there was a growing focus on accelerating shareholder value in the late 20th century, it has greatly led to a change in the way CEOs were compensated.
Furthermore, if we go back in history, another credible report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in 1965 had shown that the salaries of CEOs were 20 times higher than the average worker in their industry. Furthermore, this figure increased significantly in the 1980s and 1990s, wherein, the CEOs were held in high esteem; a major portion of their salary was interlinked to the stock performance of the company that they are spearheading.
Now let’s look into the salary structure of the highest-paid CEO in the Indian IT services sector:
Emerging as the highest-paid CEO in the Indian IT services sector, Thierry Delaporte CEO at Wipro, who resigned in April, took with him a staggering Rs 166 crore compensation for FY24. Following him are the Chief Executives of mid-cap companies Coforge and Persistent Systems. As per the report, these individuals have earned more than their counterparts in TCS and Infosys in the previous financial year.
Adding to this, Sudhir Singh’s - CEO of Coforge - annual remuneration in FY24 stood at Rs 105.12 crore. With this, it has positioned him at the second spot after Delaporte. Sudhir is then followed by C Vijayakumar, CEO at HCLTech, whose annual compensation stands at Rs 84.17 crore for the financial year 2024.
The fourth highest paid CEO is Sandeep Kalra from Persistent Systems who has also earned Rs 77.1 crore. simultaneously, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earned Rs 66 crore which comes to about USD 7.8 million, securing fifth spot on the list.
Next in the line is Nitin Rakesh from Mphasis with Rs 44.13 crore (USD 5.2 million), followed by K Krithivasan, CEO of the country’s largest IT firm TCS. Krithivasan earned Rs 25.2 crore (USD 3 million) in the last financial year (FY24). At the same time, Debashis Chatterjee, CEO at LTI Mindtree was paid Rs 19.34 crore USD (2.3 million) in total compensation in FY24.
In April, a credible source had highlighted that Randstad India is expected to report the average corporate salary increment for FY24 performance and was expected to be around 8-11 percent. However, the company said that IT companies, who are currently reeling under the impact of global headwinds, were expected to see one of the lowest salary hikes at 7 to 9 per cent.
Furthermore, another credible source reported that Infosys awarded its employees an average salary increase of 9 percent on July 18. At the same time, Wipro offered a 9.2 percent hike, while TCS granted salary raises ranging from 7 to 9 percent for FY24.
“To me, business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.” – Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
