Aon Survey Projects 6% Salary Increase for Senior Executives in India; Sensex CEO Compensation Median at INR 12.92 Crores

  • Source: Press Release
  • Published: April 2021

NEW DELHI, 14 April 2021 – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, today released insights from its latest Executive Rewards Survey in India. The study, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in India, analysed data across 504 companies from more than 20 industries.

Excluding long-term incentives (LTI), the median CEO compensation in India ranges from INR 15 Crores for Owner-Promoter CEOs to INR 3.63 Crores at Indian Private Companies. The sum of variable pay and LTI as a percentage of total compensation is 52% of CEOs in India compared to 87% for CEOs in the U.S.

Nitin Sethi, partner and CEO of Aon’s performance and rewards business in India, commented, “At 6%, the 2021 projected salary increase for senior executives is down by 1.4% from 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had less of an impact than the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis, when projected salary increases for senior executives dropped by almost 5%.”

Variable pay for top executives is most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with pay-outs for executives who had a “Meets Expectations” performance rating projected to drop from 95% in 2019-2020 to 85% in 2020-2021.

Ray Everett, CEO of Aon’s Human Capital & Rewards Solutions across Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa commented, “Executive pay practices in India are catching-up with those of US and European companies. Over half of Total Compensation for CEOs in India today is linked with business performance. Performance Shares and Restricted Stock Options are becoming more prevalent, as more companies are moving away from basic Stock Options.”

Apart from CEOs, the highest-paid executives in 2020-2021 are the chief operating officer and chief financial officer, followed by the sales head and chief human resources officer. The head of legal and head of IT are among the lowest-paid executives. Strategy and finance continue to be the top remunerative functions for executives. The survey data also shows that financial institutions and the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors continue to lead in India on executive pay.

For more information about Aon’s India practice, please visit http://www.aonhumancapital.co.in/.

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

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