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The top honchos of Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, and Bajaj Auto are the highest-paid managing directors/ chief executive officers among Nifty50 companies in FY25.
A businessline analysis of annual report disclosures by Nifty50 companies showed that IT sector continues to be top pay masters for their CEOs with 50 per cent of the top 10 Nifty50 companies with highest CEO pay being IT services majors. Infrastructure, auto, and finance are the other sectors that emerge as high pay masters for the top bosses.
Rajeev Jain of Bajaj Finance (₹103 crore), C Vijayakumar of HCL Tech ($10.8 million or ₹93 crore), Salil Parekh of Infosys (₹80.6 crore), L&T’s SN Subrahmanyan (₹76.2 crore) and Bajaj Auto’s Rajiv Bajaj with ₹58.6 crore remuneration have emerged as the top paid MD/CEOs among Nifty50 companies in FY25.
Jain of Bajaj Finance has transitioned to vice chairman role since April 1, 2025.
Tech Mahindra, Wipro, JSW Steel and Hindalco Industries are among other top CEO pay masters. Total remuneration considered is inclusive of fixed, variable pay, commissions, and stock options as per annual reports.
Interestingly, Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani and Eternal’s (Zomato) Deepinder Goyal are among the top 50 heads who have voluntarily waived their remunerations. Both Ambani and Goyal have not taken any pay since FY21. While the tech sector dominates highest paid CEOs, pay hikes in this sector in FY25 were not impressive.
Trent MD Venkatesalu Palaniswamy’s total remuneration surged by 89.4 per cent, reaching ₹13.5 crore putting him at top spot in pay growth. Adani Ports MD Karan Adani, received a total pay of ₹7.09 crore for FY25, marking 82 per cent increase over the previous year. Hero Motocorp (65.4 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (49.4 per cent) and Shriram Finance (38.8 per cent) are other companies with highest pay hike for their CEOs in FY25.
Further, India Inc executives pay continues to outpace what their median employees earn.
Tech Mahindra’s Mohit Joshi, Infosys’ Salil Parekh, and L&T’s SN Subrahmanyan had the highest CEO pay multiple (ratio of a CEO’s compensation compared to the median salary of their company’s employees) in FY25 at 840.2, 752, and 714, respectively.
Sucheta Naveen is an intern with businessline, Chennai
Published on August 12, 2025
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