Top executives’ pay packages grew sharply in FY23

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₹17 crore in 2022-23, showed a Mint analysis of data from the annual reports of these 30 firms. This was despite a mere 9.1% growth in the aggregate net profit of the 30 firms. The compensation here refers to that of the executive head in each company, which could be the chief executive, chairperson or managing director.

“The compensation has risen from a low base as 2021-22 was a muted year from a growth perspective and shareholders were also not comfortable with CEOs taking large compensations [during the pandemic]," said Shriram Subramanian, the founder and managing director of corporate governance advisory firm InGovern Research Services. In comparison to the pre-covid period, the median remuneration of executive heads has shot up from ₹11.8 crore in 2018-19, recording a 44.2% growth. All this while, workers' pay trailed.

The average increase in the median employee remuneration in these companies (where data was available) was around 9.7%. There were a few outliers like Larsen & Toubro Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd that saw a rise in employees’ compensation notwithstanding a pay cut at the top level. Meanwhile, the total costs on employees other than executive heads increased 14.8% (note that this doesn’t reflect salary changes as it also depends on changes in workforce size).

The typical remuneration of executive heads steering the firms includes components such as salary, bonus, perquisites and stock options. While the overall compensation structure has largely remained stable for some years, top bosses have pocketed big pay packages through employee stock options (ESOPs) with a run-up in stock prices. Among the leaders running the major Indian firms, Thierry Delaporte, the managing director and CEO of Wipro Ltd,