Nifty50 CEO Pay Drops 10% in FY25 Amid IT Sector Cuts

The average remuneration of Nifty50 company chiefs declined by 10.3% to ₹25.1 crore in FY25, dragged down primarily by steep executive pay cuts at IT firms Wipro and Tech Mahindra. The inclusion of Eternal and Bharat Electronics in the benchmark index also weighed down the figures, bringing the total CEO compensation across Nifty50 firms to ₹1,254 crore.

Eternal replaced BPCL, while Bharat Electronics took the slot previously held by Divi’s Laboratories, whose CEO remains the highest-paid in India’s pharma sector. Eternal’s Deepinder Goyal joined Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries in drawing no salary for FY25—further depressing the index’s average CEO compensation.

Despite the year-on-year decline, the average CEO pay in FY25 is ₹4 crore higher than FY23 levels, although it is ₹3 crore lower than what was recorded in FY24. The composition of top earners shifted significantly this year, with engineering and automotive leaders replacing last year’s IT-sector dominance.

Biggest Pay Hikes: L&T and Mahindra & Mahindra

• L&T's SN Subrahmanyan saw a substantial pay jump from ₹51.1 crore to ₹76.3 crore.
• Anish Shah of Mahindra & Mahindra received a raise of ₹23 crore, bringing his total remuneration to ₹47.3 crore.

Steepest Drops: Wipro and Tech Mahindra

• Wipro reported the largest drop in CEO compensation—₹114 crore lower than FY24.
• In the previous year, Wipro’s former CEO Thierry Delaporte earned ₹167 crore, the highest in the IT sector, including a large final settlement upon early departure.
• Tech Mahindra followed with a ₹38 crore decline in CEO pay.
• Other significant cuts came from JSW Steel (13% drop) and Maruti Suzuki (37% drop).

Over ₹100 Crore Club: Bajaj Finance and Hero MotoCorp

• Rajeev Jain, who moved from Managing Director to Executive Vice Chairman at Bajaj Finance, earned over ₹100 crore.
• Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp also crossed the ₹100-crore mark for the second consecutive year.

Also Read: Tech Mahindra Share Price in Focus as Subsidiary Pininfarina Raises Stake in Italy’s Signature S.r.l.

Modest Pay in Public Sector Companies

Among public sector undertakings:

• Amit Jhingran (SBI Life): ₹1.91 crore
• Gurdeep Singh (NTPC): ₹1.74 crore
• Chiefs of Coal India, Bharat Electronics, and ONGC: ~₹1 crore each
• CS Setty (State Bank of India Chairman): ₹64 lakh (up from ₹39 lakh)
• Ravindra Kumar Tyagi (Power Grid CMD): ₹94 lakh

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