Despite its religious, cultural, and linguistic diversity, India is incredible in many ways. It is the largest democracy on the planet, and its economy has been developing leap and bound since the last few decades. As a nation, it is home to the second-largest native population after China. However, the high population density has caused extreme economic inequality, but the country has maintained a rich tradition of entrepreneurship and wealth creation. The world may have been thrilled with the financial status of the leading brands in India. While we know who might be the wealthiest industrialist in India, today, we bring you a list of the highest-paid CEOs in India.
Here is the Latest Ranking of Highest Paid CEOs in India
Based on the annual pay, we have sorted the 10 highest-paid business leaders (CEO) in India of the current time, let’s have a look.
1- Rajesh Gopinathan
Rajesh Gopinathan is MD and CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, and as per the annual report of TCS, he got an annual package of INR 20.36 crore and became one of the highest-paid CEOs in India in 2021. In 2019-20, Mr.Gopinathan got a total remuneration of INR 13.3 crores.
TCS annual report (2020-21) says that Gopinathan earned Rs 1.27 crore in salary, Rs 2.09 crore in compensations, gratuities, and grants, and Rs 17 crore in commission.
2- Guenter Butschek
Guenter Butschek, the director, chief executive officer, and managing director of Tata Motors Ltd., has made full payment of 19.27 crores in the financial year of 2020. He has got this total amount in cash and nothing as equity and other forms of compensation. He has a global experience of 25 years working in different world-class automotive organizations. Apart from Daimler AG, he has also worked as a chief operating officer with the Airbus group.
3- CP Gurnani
As the chief executive officer of Tech Mahindra, CP Gurnani is one of the highest-paid CEOs in Asia. He received an annual pay of INR 165 crores counting all the compensations and benefits. Apart from the CEO of Tech Mahindra, Mr. Chandar Prakash Gurnani has worked in leading positions with HCL, Perot Systems (India), and Hewlett Packard Limited. The CEOWORLD magazine has ranked Mr. Gurnani at 488th place among the highest-paid CEOs in the world. Besides, Mr. Gurnani has also worked with the board of Mahindra and Mahindra as a non-executive and non-independent director.
4- Salil Parekh
As a chief executive director of Infosys, Salil Parekh receives an annual pay of INR 24.67 crores and gets listed in the highest-paid CEO in India 2021 index. . Apart from being CEO of Infosys, he was also designated as Managing Director and Chairman at the same organization. Moreover, he manages a business group including Sogeti (Technology and Engineering Services Division), Application Services (United Kingdom, North America, and Asia), and cloud infrastructure services. He has done M.Tech in computer science & mechanical engineering from Cornell University and a degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
5- Pawan Munjal
Dr. Pawan Munjal is a leading name in Hero Motocorp and designated as Chairman, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Director. In the fiscal year of 2020, he received INR 85.59 crores as salary. Dr. Munjal has founded the Hero Group, which has set a record of selling the maximum number of units in a day as a two-wheeler manufacturer. In 2019, he secured 41st place among India’s 50 influential people. Apart from that, Dr.Munjal has been honored by numerous industries, including SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry). He is undoubtedly an important name in this index of highest-paid CEOs in India.
6- Gopal Vittal
Gopal Vittal is the chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia), India’s third-largest telecom service provider and an Indian Multinational telecommunications company in more than 20 countries. As per an annual report published in 2017-18, Mr. Vittal is getting around INR 16.6 crore annual pay. Previously, Gopal Vittal worked with Hindustan Unilever, where he led Home and Personal Care Groups and successfully handled numerous global and national projects by managing the sales marketing department.
7- Kalanithi Maran
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Sun Group, Mr. Kalanithi Maran, has taken an aggregated pay of INR 87.50 crore (a salary of INR 13.87 crore and a bonus of INR 73.63). He is considered a Media Mughal as he founded and operated numerous television channels, newspapers, FM radio stations, DTH services, and a film production house as well. Between 2010 to 2015, he has tied up Sun Group with SpiceJet airlines as well. Therefore, he is an obvious addition to the list of highest-paid CEOs in India.
He is a graduate in commerce from Loyola College, Chennai, and has a master’s in business administration from Scranton University. Also, he has been honored with the Young Businessman Award from CNBC and Ernst & Young.
8- Vijay Shankar Sharma
The founder and chief executive officer of Paytm (Asia Pacific) , Mr. Vijat Shankar Sharma received compensation of INR 3.4 crore in the fiscal year 2021. Though, Mr. Sharma was re-designated as the chief executive officer of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, in July 2021. And for this, he got an increment of INR 4 crore yearly. Mr. Sharma is managing the strategy and direction for One97 Communications and is also an investment advisor of the company. He directs all the segments allied with business expansion and product road map. Moreover, He is also working as an advisor for Scoialblood.org.
9- Vishal Sikka
Infosys has paid around INR 13 crores to its Ex-CEO Vishal Sikka in 2018. Currently, He is the CEO of his own founded startup ‘Vianai,’ based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The strat-up offers highly advanced apps and services of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to large-scale enterprises around the globe.
10- Yogesh Chandra Deveshwar
The list of highest-paid CEOs in India will remain incomplete without mentioning Mr. YC Deveshwar. Chief Executive Officer of Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), Mr. Yogeshwar Chander Deveshwar, is the most adept CEO of India. His estimated annual pay was around 31.2 crore in 2011. Hayward Business Review ranked him the world’s seventh best performing CEO in the world. Also, the government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan Award in 2011. In his leadership, ITC has become India’s leading FMCG marketer and the biggest and the greenest paperboard & packaging company in India.
Final Thought
More names can be added to this list of highest-paid CEOs in India as there is no shortage of dynamic business administrators in India. While exploring, you would find many influential Indian names who are leading giant multinational organizations.
