HCLTech’s C Vijayakumar tops the list of highest paid Indian IT CEOs for 2nd year

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar has retained his position as the highest-paid chief executive in the Indian IT industry for a second consecutive year, with a total compensation of $10.85 million (approximately Rs 94.6 crore) in FY25. The 57-year-old outpaced all his peers at top Indian IT rivals such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and Tech Mahindra. He has been CEO of HCL Technologies since October 2016 and has a background in electrical engineering from Tamil Nadu. Vijayakumar’s pay package includes base salary, performance-linked incentives, stock awards, and other benefits and marks a steady rise from the last fiscal. In FY24, he earned $10.06 million (around Rs 84.17 crore), a staggering 190 per cent jump from the previous year.

The sharp increase in FY24 had already drawn attention, as it far outpaced the average 7 per cent salary hike given to HCLTech employees that year.

In FY25, HCLTech board approved a 71 per cent hike in his compensation for the coming year, putting his FY26 package at $18.6 million, or about Rs 154 crore.

‘Under his leadership, HCLTech’s market cap grew 3.8 times’

The board credited the company’s market performance as one of the key reasons behind the continued increase in his pay package even though industry observers raised questions about the widening pay gap at the top.

“Under C Vijayakumar’s leadership, HCLTech’s market capitalisation has increased from Rs 1,15,000 crore on March 31, 2016, to Rs 4,32,000 crore on March 31, 2025, reflecting a growth of 3.8 times since FY16. Over the same period, the market capitalisation of the other four leading Indian listed IT services firms among the top five has grown by approximately 2.5 times,” the company said in its annual report.

How do his peers at rival IT firms fare?

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earned Rs 80.62 crore in FY25 and Wipro’s Srinivas Pallia Rs 53.64 crore. Tech Mahindra’s Mohit Joshi was paid Rs 52.1 crore, and TCS’ K Krithivasan earned Rs 26.5 crore in FY25.

The figures show that Vijayakumar’s compensation not only leads the industry but also far exceeds that of his peers.

His FY25 remuneration comprised a base salary of $1.96 million, a variable bonus of $1.73 million and long-term incentives valued at $6.96 million, in addition to benefits and perquisites worth $0.2 million, HCLTech’s filings said.

In FY23, Wipro’s Thierry Delaporte topped the list with a package of Rs 82 crore followed by Parekh and Vijayakumar.

The shift highlights HCLTech’s growing willingness to reward its top leadership, especially as the company looks to compete more aggressively in digital, cloud, and AI deals.

Vijayakumar was also recognised by Fortune India as India’s Best CEO in the IT Services—Super Large category and ranked first in the Best CEO category in the Institutional Investor Research 14th Annual Asia Executive Team survey.