TCS CEO salary FY26: How K Krithivasan’s ₹28-cr pay package stacks up against India’s top tech leaders

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO and Managing Director K Krithivasan received total remuneration exceeding ₹28 crore in FY26, according to the company’s latest annual report. His compensation rose 6.3% year-on-year, with the disclosure arriving at a time when TCS is facing employee concerns over salary revisions and appraisal outcomes.

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

Krithivasan’s pay package

Krithivasan’s salary structure leaned heavily 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 annual report also highlighted the pay gap between TCS leadership and employees. Krithivasan’s compensation stood at approximately 333 times the median employee salary at the company.

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The remuneration details surfaced alongside broader discussions around employee salary revisions after some TCS staff claimed their monthly take-home salaries declined following appraisal-linked restructuring.

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HCLTech CEO

Among India’s top technology companies, HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar remains the highest-paid executive.

He earned ₹94.6 crore in FY25, significantly ahead of counterparts at rival firms. His compensation has risen sharply over the last two years, increasing from ₹27.8 crore in FY23 to nearly ₹95 crore in FY25. HCLTech’s board has also approved a further increase that could push his package to nearly ₹154 crore in the coming year.

The substantial jump reflects global compensation benchmarking and the company’s increasing use of performance incentives and long-term reward structures.

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Salil Parekh, Mohit Joshi, Srinivas Pallia

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh received ₹80.62 crore in FY25, recording one of the largest increases among Indian IT leaders. His compensation had stood at ₹56.5 crore in FY23, implying a significant rise over two years.

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

Former LTIMindtree CEO Debashis Chatterjee also saw a sharp increase in compensation, with his remuneration rising from ₹17 crore to ₹32.5 crore within two years.

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

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CEO pay gaps continue widening

Annual report disclosures suggest executive compensation across India’s IT sector continues to rise even as salary gaps with employees widen. According to industry analysis, CEOs of the six largest IT firms collectively earned around ₹340 crore in FY25.

The disparity between CEO compensation and median employee earnings has widened at several companies. At Infosys, the CEO earned more than 750 times the median employee salary, while at Tech Mahindra, the ratio exceeded 840 times.

These trends come amid an uncertain operating environment. Despite Indian IT service exports growing more than 12% in FY25, companies continue to navigate economic uncertainty, AI-led disruption and changing global technology spending patterns.

For TCS, the compensation discussion arrives alongside plans to reduce around 12,000 jobs, or nearly 2% of its workforce, making executive pay and employee compensation likely to remain closely watched in the months ahead.