The highest-paid CEO in India has a compensation package that amounts to multiple crores. This isn’t a surprise really; the CEOs of some of India’s leading companies are among the highest compensated executives in the country, and for good reason. They play the most important role in the growth of an organisation. Each year, the annual reports of these major corporations disclose the remuneration packages awarded to their top executives, including the CEO. Find out about the current highest-paid CEO in India (as per FY2023).
Meet India’s highest-paid CEO, who earned a staggering Rs 186 Crore in FY2023; it’s not Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath or former Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte
According to Mint and Hindustan Times, Cognizant CEO Ravi Singisetti was the highest paid CEO in India in FY2023.
Ravi Kumar Singisetti, who took over as the CEO of Cognizant in January 2023, emerged as the highest-paid CEO in India’s IT sector for FY23, with a staggering compensation package of Rs 186 crore, according to Mint. This package includes a one-time stock reward amounting to $20.25 million (approximately Rs 169 crore).
The 52-year-old CEO’s salary accounts for 0.11 per cent of Cognizant’s total revenue, which stood at $19.35 billion (around Rs 1.5 lakh crore) in 2023, according to a Times of India report. This compensation has drawn criticism after Cognizant‘s recent job listing for engineering graduates from the 2024 batch, offering an annual salary of just Rs 2.5 lakh — equivalent to Rs 20,000 per month.
Education
Ravi Kumar Singisetti studied engineering at the Shivaji University, Kolhapur before pursuing his MBA at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.
Previous experience
Before joining Cognizant, Ravi Kumar Singisetti served as the President of Infosys from 2016 to 2022. In this capacity, he oversaw the global services division and chaired the board of Infosys BPM Ltd. Prior to Infosys, his stints included leadership roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cambridge Technology Partners, Oracle, and Sapient.
Additionally, he serves on the Board of Governors for the New York Academy of Sciences and the Board of Directors for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 2024, he also became a member of the Board of Directors for the US‑India Strategic Partnership Forum.
Other highest-paid CEOs in India
Former Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte earned Rs 82.4 crore last year, while Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO of Zerodha, took home Rs 72 crore for FY23. S N Subrahmanyan, CEO of Larsen & Toubro, earned Rs 61.27 crore, while Sandeep Kalra, CEO of Persistent Systems, received Rs 61.7 crore in FY23, according to The Times of India.
