The economic slowdown has also affected India Inc’s corner offices — executive directors and above. In 2013-14, the number of new entrants to the crorepati club (the promoters and professionals earning over Rs 1 crore a year) more than halved to 42, compared with 87 the previous year. At the end of March this year, there were 640 promoters and professionals who had annual pay packages of Rs 1 crore or more each. This number was 598 at the end of 2012-13 and 511 a year earlier.
The impact of the slowdown is most visible among promoters/owners. The number of promoter-chief executives earning more than Rs 1 crore increased by 17 in 2013-14, against 51 the previous year. As for professional CEOs, the club added 25 members last year, against 36 in 2012-13.
Professional CEOs also saw a much faster increase in their salaries than their promoter/owner counterparts. Average salary of a professional CEOs grew 26.1 per cent last financial year, compared with 5.8 per cent for promoter/owner CEOs. A typical professional CEO (based on median value) took home a pay of Rs 2.6 crore in 2013-14, up from Rs 2.2 crore a year earlier. This was on par with what a typical promoter CEO earned last year.
The analysis is based on data from companies whose compensation figures for board members were available for the past three financial years. The actual number of crorepati CEOs could be higher, as some companies are still to publish their annual reports for last financial year.