As per the Deloitte India Executive Performance and Rewards Survey 2025, chief executive officers in India earn a median pay of Rs 10 crore. This is 13 per cent more than what they earned a year ago. This pay is made up of 25 per cent short-term incentives and 35 per cent long-term incentives.
Other CXOs, that is, chief operating officers, chief finance officers, chief human-resource officers, and so on, saw their pay being hiked by seven to 11 per cent. About 60 per cent of total CXO pay is fixed while the remaining is made up of short-term and long-term incentives.
chief operating officers or COOs and chief finance officers or CFOs earn the highest pay after the CEOs. Their compensations totals about Rs 4 crore.
With CXO pay being linked to equity prices, there is a likelihood of the CXO compensation being affected next year. Presently, CXO talent continues to be in high demand and limited supply.
As per the survey, when it comes to short-term incentives, the focus has increased on holistic functional or business-performance assessments at a CXO level.
When it comes to long-term incentives, on the other hand, the focus is primarily on financial performance.
Scorecards remain the most popular tool for CEOs and CXO performance assessments. Compared to last year, Indian companies are cutting bonus payouts to CXOs if they miss financial and strategic targets.
Based on the survey that was launched in September 2024, covering over 400 organisations, it is clear that share-based long-term incentives are being embraced by more organisations. That isn’t all; the quantum of pay is increasingly being linked to stock awards and the cost incurred thus is on the rise.
