Top management salaries and bonuses, which saw a 25-20% dip in the last one year, are beginning to look up again. Top positions at the CEO, MD and vice-president level are opening up, with salaries breaching the Rs 1-2 crore-plus levels. Headhunting firms FE spoke to said while positions kept on hold have started opening up, companies are still cautious about offering very high salaries.

Tapash Sengupta, MD, CHR Global, says, “Salaries are moving up and top management positions are opening up. In the past 15 days, we have closed a few senior-level positions at the MD and CEO level.”

Adds Arunima Sharma, principal consultant, Execuzen, “Salaries have moved up, but the approach is still conservative. It’s just the mindset that is taking a while to change.”

Top-level salaries in sectors such as IT, BPO, financial services, investment and corporate banking dived during the slowdown.

Companies in the media and retail space went slow on hiring or giving high salaries. Many kept their top-level positions on hold to reign in HR spends.

According to Shiv Agarwal, CEO, ABC Consultant, “There is a slight hike in the salaries of the mandates that are coming to us, but it will take another year to match the salaries that prevailed before the downturn.”

The top-level salary in the banking, finance services and insurance sector per annum today is Rs 1 crore-plus compared to Rs 2-3 crore-plus in the beginning of 2008. In the manufacturing and engineering sector, it is lower at Rs 80 lakh-plus, compared to Rs 1 crore earlier.

IT/ITeS, which took the biggest hit during the downturn, is scouting for senior-level candidates with salaries in the Rs 1.5-Rs 5 crore bracket. Salaries in pharma are 10-15% lower than 2008 levels, that is, about Rs 75 to 80 lakh per annum.

The media sector, which also faced the heat of the downturn, is maintaining a conservative approach with salaries at the top level pegged at Rs 1 crore-plus at the moment, compared to Rs 1.5-2-crore-plus before the downturn.

According to Execuzen’s Sharma, more and more expats are looking to come back to India, especially in the financial services and advertising sectors.

“I expect that by March 2010, things will be back to normal in terms of salaries,” she adds.