Fatter pay cheques and quest for challenging roles is leading to a bit of churning at the top for in Indian mutual fund industry.

For instance, Nilesh shah, deputy MD of PruICICI MF, recently put in his papers after a long stint in the organisation, while Ved prakash Chaturvedi of Tata MF quit sometime back. Interestingly, the year 2009-10 was party time for the head honchos of MF industry with high bonuses being paid on the back of sharp rise in net profits. After all, bonuses for CIOs (chief investment officers) and CEOs were linked to asset under management (AUM) as well as NAV appreciation, which in turn saw an improvement on the back of major rally in equity markets.

But this year the googly came in the form of massive redemptions in debt funds, all thanks to tight liquidity conditions in the economy, while ban on entry loads, led to sustained outflows from equity schemes.

Amidst such tough conditions, it seems some top headhonchos are scouting for challenging opportunities outside their job.

In this business where long-term fund performance is key, industry pays its architects a fat sum to stay put. According to head hunters, top CIOs and CEOs are paid a salary anywhere from Rs 2-4 crore, with the figure varying based on experience and performance track record. In addition, many are also given Esops to encourage them to stay longer with the firm. As per market sources, the head honchos of foreign fund houses like Fidelity and Franklin Templeton apparently are the best paid in the industry with their salary and performance-linked bonus together touching levels of Rs 4-5 crore .

Head hunters hint that going forward it will be difficult to retain talented employees in the mutual fund industry due to growing opportunities in competing financial sectors such as insurance, broking and investment banking. Aditya Narayan Mishra, director (marketing) at Ma Foi Randstad, an HR management consultancy, said, ?Salary of top head honchos in the fund industry has seen a steady rise.? Mishra also emphasised that more and more fund houses are looking for talent not only on the sales front but also that of portfolio management.

At present, research analysts in the industry are paid anywhere between Rs 18-25 lakh while fund managers are given a salary in the range of Rs 40-60 lakh. ?Apart from salary, fund managers also get other incentives like performance-linked bonus. In some cases, profits of fund houses are also shared by CEO, CIO and COO,? said a senior official from a leading fund house.