L&T CMD S N Subrahmanyan, who vouched for 90-hour work week, enters ₹100 crore club

Remember the Larsen & Toubro boss who said you should work 90 hours a week and asked whether you stare at your wife on Sundays? He just entered the ₹100 crore annual pay bracket. S.N.Subrahmanyan, the chairman and managing director of L&T, is now officially among India's highest-paid corporate executives in FY26. 

The official disclosure comes more than a year after his controversial remarks about working on weekends triggered a public outcry.

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A look at his salary breakup

Subrahmanyan drew a fat cheque worth ₹120.84 crore in FY2025-26. This comprises salary, perquisites other than ESOPs, perquisites related to ESOPs, retirement benefits, and commission. 

His salary stands at ₹4.32 crore, while perquisites other than ESOPs and those related to ESOPs amount to ₹3.63 crore and ₹16.72 crore, respectively. Subrahmanyan's retirement benefits and commission are pegged at ₹21.36 crore and ₹74.80 crore, as per the company's annual report. 

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This is an almost 59% rise from FY25, when he drew ₹76.24 crore, placing him among the highest-paid corporate executives in the country. SN Subrahmanyan's remuneration was 1,016 times the median salary of an L&T employee, which is ₹11.89 lakh per annum. 

His compensation is unusually high because of a very large commission payout, ESOP-related gains, and retirement benefits. 

How does S. N. Subrahmanyan fare against other CEOs

With the massive hike in his paycheque, Subrahmanyan is among the highest-paid corporate leaders in India. HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar earned ₹84-85 crore, driven mostly by large performance-linked incentives. 

Infosys' Salil Parekh received ₹80.62 crore in FY25, a significant increase from ₹56.5 crore in FY23. Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi and Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia each earned around ₹54 crore in FY25. Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) K Krithivasan is among the lowest-paid CEOs in India, as he received a total remuneration of over ₹28 crore in FY26. 

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When the CEO courted controversy

In January 2025, the L&T chairman suggested during an employee interaction that employees must work 90 hours a week. He was responding to a query on why employees were being made to work on Saturdays. 

To this, he replied, “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays." 

Furthermore, he questioned what employees would even do if they were at home. "What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?" the chairman asked. He added, "Come on, get to the office and start working."

He also cited an interaction with a Chinese person who, according to him, said that China could beat the USA. The person reportedly told Subrahmanyan that Chinese people work 90 hours a week and Americans work only 50 hours a week. 

“So that’s the answer for you. If you have got to be on top of the world.. You have to work 90 hours a week. Get going, guys. Come on.”

After the statement went viral for all the wrong reasons, L&T was quick to issue a clarification, saying that nation-building is at the core of its mandate. 

"For over eight decades, we have been shaping India's infrastructure, industries, and technological capabilities. We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation."