The financial results underscore a widening divergence in pay structures across India’s top information technology services firms, where stock-linked incentives and equity-based wealth creation have significantly reshaped executive earnings.
Infosys Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Salil Parekh emerged as the highest-paid CEO in the sector during FY26, receiving total compensation of ₹82.6 crore. Wipro Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Srinivas Pallia followed with ₹49.6 crore, while TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director K Krithivasan received ₹28 crore despite leading the industry’s largest company.
The figures highlight that executive pay is driven not only by company size or profitability but also by the structure of incentives, particularly stock-linked rewards and long-term performance-linked compensation.
Salil Parekh’s compensation at Infosys included a fixed salary of ₹7.97 crore, retirement benefits of ₹0.53 crore, and variable pay of ₹8.5 crore. A substantial portion came from equity-linked earnings, including stock-based incentives worth ₹23.35 crore and gains of ₹50.75 crore from exercised stock awards. The company stated that Parekh exercised more than 337,000 restricted stock units granted under its employee stock plans during the year. Infosys also approved additional stock grants tied to business performance, shareholder returns, and environmental, social, and governance objectives.
At Wipro, Srinivas Pallia’s total remuneration of ₹49.6 crore placed him second among the top three IT services firms. His compensation included approximately ₹15.5 crore in salary and allowances, nearly ₹9.9 crore in variable pay and commission, about ₹23.3 crore in other compensation, and around ₹1 crore in deferred benefits. The decline from ₹53.6 crore in the previous financial year was primarily attributed to lower performance-linked payouts, with variable compensation falling from ₹14.5 crore in FY25 to ₹9.9 crore in FY26.
In contrast, TCS Chief Executive Officer K Krithivasan saw his pay rise by 6.3 percent year-on-year to ₹28 crore. His compensation comprised a basic salary of ₹1.67 crore, benefits and allowances of ₹1.43 crore, and a performance-linked commission of ₹25 crore. The company noted that his remuneration was equivalent to 332.8 times the median employee pay. During the year, median employee remuneration at TCS increased by 5.1 percent, while salary increments for junior and mid-level employees in India ranged between 4.5 percent and 7 percent.
Despite its lower executive pay ranking, TCS maintained clear dominance in business scale, reporting revenue of ₹2.67 lakh crore and net profit of ₹49,210 crore in FY26. Infosys reported revenue of ₹1.79 lakh crore and net profit of ₹29,440 crore, along with free cash flow of ₹33,097 crore and an operating margin of 20.3 percent. Wipro, while significantly smaller, recorded revenue of ₹92,620 crore and net income of ₹13,200 crore. However, it posted strong momentum in deal wins, with large deal bookings rising 45.4 percent to $7.8 billion and total bookings increasing 14 percent to $16.4 billion.
The revenue gap between the companies remains substantial, with TCS generating approximately ₹88,000 crore more than Infosys and nearly three times the revenue of Wipro.
Annual report disclosures also highlighted voluntary compensation decisions among senior leadership. Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani did not receive any remuneration during FY26. At TCS, Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran continued his long-standing practice of not accepting commission from the company, receiving only ₹4.2 lakh in sitting fees.
The FY26 figures reinforce a growing reality in India’s technology sector: leadership compensation is increasingly determined not by company size alone, but by equity structures and stock-linked reward systems that amplify earnings beyond base corporate performance.
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