IT's Highest-Paid CEO Gets 71% Pay Hike While Industry Slows

HCLTech's C. Vijayakumar is getting a 71% jump over his current package for his new term

- Jas Bardia

The highest-paid chief executive among India's top five IT services companies is set to earn significantly more, even as the $283-billion sector faces automation-driven job cuts, slowing growth, and global macroeconomic uncertainty.

HCL Technologies Ltd.'s C. Vijayakumar not only retained his title as the highest-paid CEO in the group, with a 5.7% raise last year to ₹88.97 crore ($10.85 million), but also secured a sharply higher pay package for the next five years after being reappointed as CEO and managing director.

The jump in executive compensation comes as the industry battles declining profitability and layoffs. Three of the five—Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro—reported shrinking operating margins in the April-June quarter. Tata Consultancy Services, the largest of the group, plans to cut 2% of its workforce to rein in costs.

Infosys has forecast its slowest expansion in a decade, while TCS just reported its weakest growth in four years, as macroeconomic uncertainty and a pullback in large outsourcing deals weigh on demand.