TCS CEO Krithivasan earns over ₹28 crore in FY26, still behind top IT CEOs: Here’s what his peers got

K Krithivasan, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)'s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD), received a total remuneration of over ₹28 crore in FY26, according to the company's latest annual report.

Krithivasan's compensation witnessed an increase of 6.3 per cent year-on-year, Business Today reported on Wednesday. The disclosure of his remuneration comes at a time when the company is facing employee concerns over salary revisions and appraisal outcomes.

The remuneration details surfaced alongside broader discussions about employee salary revisions after some TCS employees claimed their monthly take-home pay had declined following appraisal-linked restructuring.

TCS CEO pay package: Key details

The TCS CEO's salary structure was heavily leaned toward performance-linked compensation. His FY26 package included over ₹1.67 crore in base salary, ₹1.43 crore in benefits, allowances, and perquisites, and nearly ₹25 crore in commission, making variable payouts the largest component of his earnings.

The yearly report also underscored the pay gap between TCS leadership and employees. Krithivasan’s compensation was roughly 333 times the median employee salary at the company.

Despite ₹28 crore being a sizable pay package by corporate standards, a comparison with India's leading technology companies shows that Krithivasan is in the middle of the country's IT CEO compensation rankings, trailing HCLTech, Infosys, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra.

Here's a look at some of Krithivasan's peers' pay packages:

HCL Tech CEO C Vijayakumar continues to hold the top spot as the highest-paid executive among the country's top technology companies. In FY25, he earned ₹94.6 crore, which was significantly ahead of his counterparts at rival firms. Vijayakumar's compensation has increased sharply over the last two years, rising from ₹27.8 crore in FY23 to nearly ₹95 crore in FY25. Additionally, HCLTech's board also approved a further increase in his compensation that could push his package to roughly ₹154 crore in the coming year.

The significant increase is driven by global pay benchmarking practices and the company’s growing emphasis on performance-based rewards and long-term incentive plans.

Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia and Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi each earned roughly ₹54 crore during FY25.

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, in FY25, received ₹80.62 crore, recording what was known to be one of the largest salary hikes among Indian IT leaders. Parekh's compensation in FY23 stood at ₹56.5 crore, highlighting a significant rise over two years.

Debashis Chatterjee, the former CEO of LTIMindtree, has also seen a sharp increase in compensation, with his remuneration rising from ₹17 crore to ₹32.5 crore within two years.

In comparison to other industry leaders, Krithivasan’s compensation appears modest despite leading India’s largest IT services company by revenue and workforce size.

CEO pay disparity continues to increase

The disclosures in the annual report highlighted that executive pay in the country's IT industry has maintained its upward trajectory, even as the gap between leadership and employee salaries has expanded significantly. Industry estimates show that the CEOs of the six major IT companies together took home nearly ₹340 crore in FY25.

Pay inequality has also become more pronounced within individual firms. At Infosys, the CEO’s compensation was over 750 times higher than the median employee salary, while at Tech Mahindra, the multiple went beyond 840 times.