Good News! Amid Layoffs, Senior Employees at IT Firms May Get 9.1% Pay Hike This Year. Deets Inside

Average CEO compensation has increased 21% in the last four years. It rose 5.1%, 7.9% and 9.7% in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.

New Delhi: At a time when people are losing their jobs, India Inc.’s C-suite executives are expected to take home a 9.1% salary hike on average in 2023,  a new study released by financial services firm Aon showed. However, to claim the additional incentives,  CEOs, CXOs and senior executives at IT services will have to meet long-term environmental, social, and governance, and gender diversity goals.

Speaking to a leading business portal, Pritish Gandhi, Director and Practice Leader of Executive Compensation and Governance Practice in India at Aon said that in IT firms such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro, we are expecting very high salary increases. Moreover, in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, there can be a reasonable hike too.

Findings of the Executive Rewards Survey in India revealed that the average CEO compensation has increased 21% in the last four years. It rose 5.1%, 7.9% and 9.7% in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.

“Senior executives’ salary increases continue to focus on pay at risk, indicating the emphasis on rewarding executives for the value they bring to the organisation,” said Nitin Sethi, chief executive officer, Human Capital Solutions, India and South Asia at Aon.

Sethi further noted that in a rapidly evolving, volatile business environment, organisations seek to adopt executive pay programmes that drive the right behaviours, are cost effective and contribute to long-term business results.

“Organisations can therefore benefit from a data-driven approach to make better decisions regarding complex executive compensation issues while navigating business volatility,” Sethi said.

The study found that amongst the BSE’s top 30 companies, long-term incentives (LTI) is provided at 176 per cent of fixed pay for CEOs and at 103 per cent for other C-level executives, including the chief operating officer, chief financial officer, sales leader and chief human resources officer. The average LTI amount for CEOs for the same set of organisations is Rs 10 crore.