C Vijayakumar, Managing Director and CEO of HCLTech, emerged as the highest-paid chief executive among India's IT services companies for the third consecutive year, taking home a remuneration of approximately ₹176.47 crore in fiscal 2026. According to HCLTech's fiscal year 2026 annual report, Vijayakumar earned approximately $18.3 million during the financial year, marking a 66.98% increase from $10.45 million in fiscal year 2025. His compensation package comprised a base salary of $2.48 million, up from $1.96 million in the previous year, along with a performance-linked bonus of $2 million compared with $1.73 million in fiscal year 2025. The latest package kept him as the highest-earning CEO among Indian IT services companies, with his remuneration more than double that of the next highest-paid CEO in the sector.
The package included a long-term incentive cash component of $3.94 million, which was absent in fiscal 2025. Additionally, the perquisite value of restricted stock units (RSUs) exercised during fiscal 2026 stood at $9.4 million, rising from $6.96 million a year earlier. Benefits, perquisites and allowances totalled about $0.31 million, compared with $0.20 million in fiscal 2025. Despite the sharp increase in remuneration, Vijayakumar's actual fiscal 2026 compensation was marginally below what had been approved by the board, with the company's fiscal 2025 annual report having approved remuneration of $18.6 million for fiscal 2026, but he ultimately received $18.3 million, about 1.6% lower than the approved amount. The steep hike in Vijayakumar's salary comes at a time when executive compensation hikes have been muted this year, as IT services companies continue to battle a prolonged slowdown in revenue, hurt by macroeconomic uncertainties and investor concerns about a future likely to be upended by AI.
Vijayakumar comfortably outpaced his peers across the Indian IT industry, with Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earning ₹82.6 crore in FY26, followed by Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi at around ₹67.5 crore. Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia received ₹49.6 crore, while TCS CEO K Krithivasan earned ₹28.1 crore. LTIMindtree CEO Venu Lambu took home ₹27.26 crore. With remuneration of ₹176.47 crore, Vijayakumar earned more than double that of the next highest-paid CEO in the sector. Notably, Wipro CEO Srini Pallia's total compensation dropped by 15.75% to $5.29 million, while Infosys CEO Salil Parekh's earnings remained relatively stable at ₹82.6 crore compared with ₹80.6 crore a year earlier. Vijayakumar is based in the United States and receives his remuneration from HCL America Inc., a step-down wholly owned subsidiary of HCLTech incorporated in California.
The annual report also highlighted that his remuneration was approximately 291.9 times the median remuneration of HCLTech employees, down from 662.5 a year earlier. As of June 30, HCLTech's total workforce was about 227,181 employees. Vijayakumar has led HCLTech since 2016 and has overseen the company's expansion across digital transformation, cloud services and artificial intelligence, helping it remain one of India's largest IT services providers. In his message to shareholders, he emphasized the company's AI-led growth strategy built around five vectors: service transformation, building differentiated IP, AI-led growth opportunities, partnerships with ecosystem players and upskilling. "AI is creating enormous opportunities through entirely new business propositions even as it quietly reshapes much of the old. The companies that define the next decade will be those that can do both: pursue the opportunity AI creates while absorbing the disruption it brings," he added.
