It's great time to be a CEO! Compensation outpaces profits, total wage bill

Corporate chiefs have seen their earnings rise at an annualised 18.3% against net profit growth of 13% over the past three years, while overall salaries have gone up 10%

It’s a great time to be a chief executive officer in India. The compensation for top management in corporate India is now growing in high-double digits, and is now the fastest growing cost head for most companies. 

The combined compensation of corporate India’s top CEOs, including promoter directors and professional board level executives, was up 20.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in FY18, against a 13 per cent growth in the previous year. 

In comparison, companies’ combined salary and wage bill was up just 7.8 per cent in FY18, growing at the slowest pace in the last three years. The other