Infosys chief executive officer Salil Parekh remained the highest-paid CEO among the country’s top information technology services companies in FY26, drawing total compensation of Rs 82.6 crore, while Wipro CEO and managing director Srinivas Pallia ranked second despite a decline in his remuneration during the year.
According to Wipro’s annual report released on Wednesday, Pallia’s compensation stood at Rs 49.6 crore in FY26, down 7.4% from Rs 53.6 crore a year earlier. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO K Krithivasan received Rs 28 crore during the year, making him the lowest-paid among the heads of the country’s leading IT services firms that have disclosed compensation figures so far. HCLTech is yet to release its FY26 annual report.
A large part of Parekh’s remuneration came from stock-linked rewards. His compensation included Rs 50.75 crore in restricted stock units (RSU) and Rs 23.35 crore in stock-based incentives, underscoring the growing role of long-term equity-linked payouts in executive compensation across the sector.
At Wipro, Pallia’s salary and allowances rose to Rs 15.5 crore in FY26 from Rs 14.6 crore in the previous year. However, a sharp decline in variable pay to Rs 9.9 crore from Rs 14.5 crore led to a lower overall compensation package. Pallia also received Rs 23.3 crore under ‘Others’ as well as around Rs 1 crore from deferred compensation benefits.
Executive Chairman Rishad Premji also saw his remuneration fall significantly during the year. His compensation declined to Rs 7.3 crore from Rs 13.8 crore in FY25, while variable pay dropped to Rs 2.2 crore from Rs 7 crore.
The annual report noted that both Pallia and Premji are entitled to a commission of 0.35% on the incremental consolidated net profit of the company over the previous financial year.