Hiring CEOs becoming difficult after huge pay hike in FY22, says new report

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh saw his total pay jump by 43% to Rs 71.02 crore, the company's annual report showed

As compensation for India Inc CEOs hit a new high this year, a report in the Economic Times said that this increase is making it difficult and unsustainable for companies to hire senior leaders. According to executive search firms, companies, amid scarcity in leadership talent, are making counter offers to retain top executives who are getting offers from other firms. This, in turn, is making senior leaders reject offers that they had initially accepted.

This year, many companies increased the salary of their CEOs after recording strong profit and sales growth. While many CEOs took a pay cut or did not get any hike in FY21 amid the coronavirus pandemic, they were rewarded in FY22. Senior leaders were given 11 per cent to 15 per cent rise in salary and perks in FY22, while a few got a 25 per cent to 45 per cent hike, data collected by Primeinfobase.com showed. 

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh saw his total pay jump by 43 per cent to Rs 71.02 crore, the company's annual report showed. Meanwhile, TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan’s compensation increased by 23 per cent to reach nearly Rs 26 crore in FY22. Sanjiv Mehta, MD Hindustan Unilever MD, saw his total pay go up by 43 per cent to over Rs 22 crore in FY22. 

Pranav Haldea, MD at Primedatabase, spoke to ET and said that at higher levels, talent is scarce, therefore firms have also increased payouts as a retention strategy. 

The CEOs were rewarded last year with pay hikes as they took extra responsibility amid the crisis, Consultants firm was as quoted by the Economic Times. 

Korn Ferry's India MD, Navnit Singh said, “It’s more of an employee's market as companies make efforts to retain top talent and hence there are far more counter offers and offer drops,” quoted ET.