Deloitte India Executive Performance and Rewards Survey 2025 has shed light on the evolving compensation trends for top executives in India, particularly CEOs and CXOs.
The sixth edition of the survey highlights a significant rise in compensation, fueled by performance-based incentives and shareholder activism.
These findings provide valuable insights into how India’s corporate landscape is navigating competitive talent dynamics and market volatility, while aligning executive rewards with performance metrics.
CEO and CXO tenures are becoming shorter, reflecting intensified performance expectations and shareholder activism.
This dynamic is driving upward pressure on executive pay and benefits, while contracts are being heavily negotiated to meet these demands.
Deloitte Survey: CEO and CXO Compensation on the Rise
Professional CEOs (non-promoter CEOs) in India have seen their median annual compensation climb to INR 10 crore for FY 2024–25, reflecting a 13% increase compared with the previous year.
Deloitte India categorizes this compensation structure into fixed pay (40%) and at-risk pay (60%), which is further split between short-term incentives (25%) and long-term incentives (35%).
This balance underscores a shift towards aligning pay with measurable performance outcomes.
The survey revealed similar trends for other top-level executives, including COOs, CFOs, CHROs, CMOs, and CSOs.
Compensation for CXOs witnessed a rise of 7–11% over the past year.
Among them, COOs and CFOs remain the highest-paid positions after CEOs, with total earnings approaching INR 4 crore annually.
For CXOs, the structure is slightly different, with 60% of the pay being fixed and the rest equally split between short-term and long-term incentives.
Factors Driving Compensation Adjustments
Anandorup Ghose, Partner at Deloitte India, elaborated on the factors behind these trends.
He mentioned, “CXO compensation continues to rise in India, with this talent pool remaining restricted and consequently in high demand.”
Anandorup added, “We are yet to observe any negative impact of the ongoing correction in equity markets on CXO compensation.”
“That may come through in next year’s numbers, given the high linkage of CXO compensation with equity prices,” he mentioned.
He highlighted notable improvements in compensation within legal, risk, and compliance roles. These areas have historically experienced lower pay compared to other functions.
This reflects the growing importance of these functions in risk management and governance.
Governance and Performance Metrics
A notable finding of the survey is the shift in short-term incentives at the CXO level.
Companies are increasingly adopting holistic assessments that go beyond financial metrics to evaluate functional or business performance.
However, long-term incentives continue to focus predominantly on financial outcomes, using scorecards that encompass strategic and financial priorities.
To ensure progress on strategic targets, organizations are placing greater emphasis on lead metrics when determining bonus payouts.
This change has also led to reduced bonuses for CXOs failing to meet financial or strategic targets, as compared with the previous year.
Deloitte Survey 2025: Share-Based Incentives and Shareholder Activism
Companies are increasingly adopting share-based long-term incentives. The quantum of pay linked to stock awards is also rising.
Companies are under increased scrutiny from proxy advisory firms and shareholders. Rejection rates for management proposals have risen fourfold in the past year.
Dinkar Pawan, Director at Deloitte India, remarked, “Share-based pay is becoming more intricate with the rising use of performance shares and multiple plans.”
He added, “Enhanced governance leads to better decisions, and we are already seeing clear improvements in the quality of proposals going to the shareholders.”
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