CEO salaries grew 40% on average in the past four years, Deloitte survey finds

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₹13.8 crore in 2024, 40% higher than pre-covid levels, according to the Deloitte India Executive Performance and Rewards Survey. The average salary of junior executives is estimated to have grown at about half that rate over the same period. According to the survey, every second CEO has a target compensation of more than ₹10 crore in 2024, compared with every third CEO in 2020.

In target-based compensation, bonus payouts are not decided on a discretionary basis and depend on the company's performance. The number of CEOs who earn more than ₹20 crore doubled over the past four years, according to the survey, which involved CXOs at 400 companies, excluding public-sector ones. The survey also found that promoter CEOs have seen their compensation rise more quickly than those of professional CEOs.

It noted that the proportion of promoter CEOs earning more than ₹20 crore a year tripled from 9% in 2020 to 26% in 2024, while that of professional CEOs earning this amount increased marginally from 12% in 2020 to 17% in 2024. “The average tenure of a promoter CEO is much longer than that of a professional CEO, so there is less risk of attrition. Therefore their compensation has increased more sharply over time," said Dinkar Pawan, director at Deloitte.

CEOs who are also promoters or members of the promoter family are paid ₹16.7 crore on average while CEOs at professionally run firms receive an average of ₹13 crore. The survey also found that salary structures have been revised across hierarchies to include more target-oriented compensation. While CEO compensation has increased, more than 50% of target compensation is performance-based on average (57% for professional CEOs and 47% for promoter CEOs).