HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar's total pay jumped nearly 67% to approximately Rs 175 crore ($18.13 million) in the financial year 2025-26, driven primarily by long-term incentive payouts and restricted stock units.
- C Vijayakumar's total pay rose 66.9% to Rs 175 crore in FY26
- Long-term incentives and stock options formed the bulk of the increase
- HCLTech net profit declined 4.3% even as revenue grew 11.18%
What happened
HCLTech CEO and Managing Director C Vijayakumar received a total compensation package of $18.13 million (about Rs 175 crore) during the fiscal year 2025-26. This represented a sharp rise of nearly 67% from his previous year's remuneration. The increase was mainly driven by long-term incentive cash payments and the value of restricted stock units he exercised during the year.
Vijayakumar’s base salary was $2.48 million with a performance-linked bonus of $2 million and benefits totaling $0.31 million. The long-term incentive amounted to approximately $3.94 million, while stock units added another $9.40 million. Without the long-term incentives and stock components, his pay rise would have been about 23%.
Why it matters
This substantial increase positions Vijayakumar as the highest-paid CEO in India’s IT sector relative to his peers. For comparison, Tata Consultancy Services CEO K Krithivasan earned Rs 28 crore and Infosys CEO Salil Parekh Rs 82.60 crore in the same fiscal year, with smaller percentage increases. Wipro's CEO took home significantly less in dollar terms.
Moreover, Vijayakumar's compensation was nearly 292 times the median remuneration of HCLTech's workforce globally, highlighting the considerable pay gap between top leadership and average employees. The median employee pay itself increased by only 5.4% during FY26, underscoring the disproportionate nature of the CEO's pay hike.
What to watch next
HCLTech reported an 11.18% revenue rise to Rs 130,144 crore in FY26, however net profit declined by 4.3% to Rs 16,642 crore. This divergence between top-line growth and profitability alongside the CEO's pay hike could attract scrutiny from shareholders and the investor community.
Going forward, stakeholders will likely monitor whether HCLTech can improve profitability margins and financial performance to justify high executive compensation. The company’s approach to balancing workforce remuneration and executive pay may also become a key focus amid ongoing industry competition for talent and shareholder value creation.