From Wipro to Infosys, India's IT giants see massive pay gap between CEOs and employees

The pay gap between IT company chairmen and Managing Directors and their employees has widened dramatically over the past four years.

According to Storyboard18's analysis of India's top-listed IT services firms, Wipro's chairman Rishad Premji has the lowest pay ratio to median employee remuneration. This means that the gap between Premji's salary and the average employee's earnings is the smallest at Wipro.

However, the pay ratio has surged from 10.80 in fiscal year 2021 to 140.54 in fiscal year 2025, reflecting a massive year-on-year increase.

Rishad Premji's FY25 remuneration surged to Rs 13.7 crore, up from Rs 6.5 crore in the previous fiscal year. His compensation package included salary, allowances, commission, performance-based payments, prerequisites, and the company's contribution to provident fund and superannuation, as well as the value of registered stock units.

In contrast, Wipro's employee benefits, comprising salaries and bonuses, PF, and shared compensation declined 2.8% year-on-year to Rs 533,477 million in FY25. According to the company, the decrease in total employee compensation costs was attributed to a lower average headcount, partially offset by salary increases and promotions.

Premji's salary has been volatile, with his pay ratio to median employee remuneration fluctuating significantly. In FY22, it stood at 174.02:1.

Infosys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and MD Salil Parekh recorded the highest salary gap with employees in FY25, with a pay ratio of 752:1, up from 677 in the previous financial year. Parekh's salary saw a spike of 21.6% to Rs 80.62 crore in FY25.

Meanwhile, Infosys employees in India received an average annual salary increase of 12%, including promotions and other compensation revisions.

In contrast, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO K Krithivasan's pay ratio to median remuneration was 329.8 in FY25, marginally higher than the 326.81 recorded by former CEO Rajesh Gopinathan in FY21.

Krithivasan's total compensation increased by 4.6% to Rs 26.52 crore in FY25, while TCS employees received an average annual salary hike of 6.3%.

Noida-based HCL Technologies has not disclosed its median remuneration for fiscal year 2025 yet. However, in FY24, CEO C Vijayakumar's pay ratio to employees' median salary was 707.46, with the CEO earning $10.06 million.

According to Equila, the salary disparity is largely driven by performance-based compensation and stock awards, which typically account for around 70% of top executives' total pay packages.