Noida-based HCLTech paid its CEO C Vijayakumar more than other IT heads in FY25, making him of the highest-paid executives in the Indian IT sector.
Vijayakumar’s remuneration in the financial year 2024-25 was a whopping ₹94.6 crore (USD 10.85 million), which surpassed the earnings of chiefs at larger rivals TCS and Infosys.
What’s more, he has more money coming in as the company's board has approved an over 71 per cent increase in his current remuneration to about ₹154 crore (USD 18.6 million), effective April 1, 2025, according to the company's annual report.
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"The revised compensation acknowledges C Vijayakumar's successful and long-tenured leadership as CEO, recognising his significant contributions to the company's growth and sustained performance over the years," a company report said.
According to HCLTech’s annual report, Vijayakumar’s total remuneration in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2025, comprised a base salary of USD 1.96 million and a performance-linked bonus of USD 1.73 million.
The largest portion of his earnings, however, came from long-term incentives, with exercised Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) valued at USD 6.96 million. An additional USD 0.20 million was provided in benefits and perquisites.
Having taken over as CEO of HCLTech in 2016, Vijayakumar continues to be based in the US and draws his remuneration from HCL America Inc., the firm's wholly-owned US subsidiary.
The company said it owes a massive increase in its market capitalisation to Vijayakumar, hence the hefty salary.
"Under C. Vijayakumar's leadership, HCLTech's market capitalisation has increased from ₹1,15,000 crore on March 31, 2016, to ₹4,32,000 crore on March 31, 2025, reflecting a growth of 3.8 times since FY16. Over the same period, the market capitalisation of the other four leading Indian-listed IT services firms among the top five has grown by approximately 2.5 times," the company said.
In comparison to Vijayakumar’s salary in FY25, TCS CEO K Krithivasan's remuneration was ₹26.52 crore, while Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earned ₹80.62 crore. Vijayakumar's earnings also topped those of Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia (USD 6.2 million or about ₹53.64 crore) and Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi (₹53.9 crore).
HCL Technologies posted a 9.7 per cent drop to ₹3,843 crore in consolidated net profit for the June quarter, hurt by higher expenses and one-time impact of a client bankruptcy, but raised the lower end of revenue growth outlook for the full fiscal to 3-5 per cent (from 2-5 per cent earlier) on booking expectations in coming quarters.
Shares of HCLTech settled 0.98 per cent lower at ₹1,452.95 apiece on the BSE on Friday.
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