In a year marked by strong corporate performance and aggressive expansion, CEO pay packages across India Inc have seen a sharp rise. Amid market volatility, companies in key sectors are rewarding top leadership for navigating headwinds and delivering strong shareholder returns. As a result, executive compensation has surged—some by staggering margins.
According to Deloitte’s latest Executive Performance and Rewards Survey, average CEO compensation in India saw a sharp 13 per cent on-year increase in 2025, with the median annual package touching Rs 10 crore. This rise, it added, is being largely fueled by variable, performance-tied components that now form 60 per cent of top executives’ total compensation, leaving only 40 per cent of the total compensation as fixed.
Other CXOs (COOs, CFOs, CHROs, etc.), it added, saw pay hikes of 7-11 per cent, with COOs and CFOs earning close to Rs 4 crore annually.
Another report by research and advocacy group Oxfam maintained that average pay for CEOs in India has reached $2 million a year (Rs 16.92 crore). This showed that CEO pay has surged by 50 per cent in real terms since 2019, while the average worker’s wages have risen by only 0.9 per cent in that time.
Here’s a look at the top five corporate leaders who emerged as the biggest gainers in the executive compensation race this fiscal year.
Salil Parekh, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys
Salary hike: 22% increase
Total remuneration: Rs 80.6 crore in FY25
Salil Parekh‘s total compensation increased by 22 per cent, reaching Rs 80.62 crore in the fiscal year 2024–25. Per details shared in the annual report released by the IT major, this compensation excludes the perquisite value of stock incentives exercised during the year. This salary hike in FY25 was primarily due to the exercise of stock options valued at Rs 49.5 crore, compared to Rs 39 crore in the previous year. While his base salary remained steady at Rs 7.5 crore, his retiral benefits stood at Rs 50 lakh and his variable pay increased to Rs 23.2 crore from Rs 19.8 crore in FY24. In the previous fiscal year, his total remuneration was Rs 66.25 crore.
Rohit Jawa, CEO and Managing Director, HUL
Salary hike: 3.75% increase
Total salary: Rs 23.23 crore in FY25
Rohit Jawa saw a 3.75 per cent hike in his total remuneration for FY25 to Rs 23.23 crore. According to the company’s latest annual report, despite the marginal increase in FY25 remuneration, Jawa’s pay is still 146.47 times higher than the median remuneration of HUL employees. In FY24, his remuneration was 153.03 times more than the median remuneration of employees. In FY24, Jawa had taken home a total remuneration of Rs 22.39 crore, which was in line with predecessor Sanjiv Mehta, who took home a pay package of Rs 22.36 crore in FY23.
Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group
Salary hike: 12% increase
Total salary: Rs 10.41 crore in FY25
Gautam Adani’s total remuneration increased by 12 per cent to Rs 10.41 crore in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. This was up from Rs 9.26 crore he had earned in the previous 2023-24 financial year. Though his salary hike is significant, it’s lower than most industry peers and some of his top executives. Adani draws salaries from two of the nine listed companies in his ports-to-energy conglomerate, according to the latest annual reports of the listed entities of the Group.
K Krithivasan, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Salary hike: 4.6% increase
Total salary: Rs 26.52 crore in FY25
K Krithivasan received a 4.6 per cent hike remuneration over the previous fiscal to Rs 26.52 crore, the company’s annual report showed. This continues to remain significantly lower than that of his peers in the country’s top IT firms. Krithivasan’s FY25 package comprised a base salary of Rs 1.39 crore, Rs 2.13 crore in benefits, perquisites and allowances, and a commission of Rs 23 crore. His total remuneration stood at nearly 330 times the median salary of TCS’s 607,979 employees, which saw a 6.3 per cent increase in FY25.
Rishad Premji, Executive Chairman, Wipro
Salary hike: More than double
Total salary: Rs 13.7 crore (approx.) in FY25
Rishad Premji’s remuneration more than doubled to $1.6 million (about Rs 13.7 crore). Even so, it remained less than company CEO Srinivas Pallia’s earnings of $6.2 million (about Rs 53.64 crore) in FY25, according to the company’s latest annual report. In FY24, Premji did not take any commission since the company’s incremental consolidated net profit for the year was negative, and took a pay cut of about 20 per cent.