Inside India’s IT Pay Gap: TCS, Infosys, HCL, and Wipro Under the Lens

The Indian IT sector, a key driver of growth and a symbol of middle-class ambition, remains a major contributor to the economy and one of the country’s largest employers. Yet, it now faces a different kind of challenge. This isn’t about technology or skills, but about compensation, specifically, a widening gap between boardroom pay and employee salaries. Beneath the success stories lies a pay gap that’s hard to ignore. In some cases, the CEO can earn in a single day what might take the average employee more than two years to make. The numbers aren’t just large, they point to a growing divide inside some of India’s most respected companies. Let’s dive in and unpack the story behind these figures.

Inside the Widening Pay Divide in Indian IT

In India’s IT sector, the gap between CEO pay and the median employee salary has received relatively little public attention, but it keeps getting wider year after year. Median employee salaries in FY25 grew modestly, ranging from a slight decline of 0.6% at Wipro to a 17.6% rise at HCL, while CEO compensation surged sharply, with increases between roughly 4.6% at TCS and 22% at Infosys, and HCL’s CEO reaching ₹94.6 crore. This contrast shows how executive pay continues to outpace employee growth, widening the divide year after year.

Rising CEO compensation, combined with slow wage growth for the average worker, has pushed the ratio in some companies to over 700x, well above the global median for technology firms.

The CEO vs Median ratio shows how many times more a CEO earns compared to the company’s median employee. It’s a key measure of pay equity, and an unusually high ratio can highlight income inequality and affect employee morale. 

While top executives take home multi-crore annual packages, the median employee, often a software engineer, analyst, or team lead, earns only a fraction of that. With this data now publicly available in company filings, the pay gap is no longer just a matter of perception; the numbers make the disparity clear

Two Worlds Under One Roof: How Pay Scales Split in Indian IT

Indian IT is one of the largest employers in the white-collar sector, with industry giants like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL together employing around 1.4 million people. For decades, these companies have built their reputation on rewarding talent, global competitiveness, and a culture of innovation. They’ve helped millions kickstart their careers, taking people from small towns to jobs in big cities, and in some cases, to global leadership roles.

However, with a workforce made up mostly of entry-level employees and far fewer senior roles, median salaries stay relatively low while executive pay has surged sharply. When one looks closely at the numbers, the gap is striking; compensation at the top and in the middle feels like it comes from two completely different worlds.

India’s IT Pay Gap: CEOs vs Employees

HCLTech CEO C. Vijayakumar was the highest-paid chief executive in the Indian IT sector in FY25, earning ₹94.6 crore, which is more than the combined pay of the CEOs of TCS and Wipro. His compensation was about 663 times the median employee salary at HCLTech during the same period.

TCS, despite being one of the largest employers, has the smallest CEO-to-median pay gap on this list, but K Krithivasan still makes 330 times the median salary, which means he earns in just over a day what the median employee takes a full year to earn.

One Day’s Pay vs. Years of Work

The numbers make the gap impossible to ignore. In some cases, a CEO earns in a single day what the median employee would make in months or even years. At Infosys, for example, Salil Parekh takes home in just one day what the median employee would earn over more than two years.

This isn’t a new story, the pay gap between CEOs and employees in big Indian IT companies has been growing steadily for years. One major reason? CEO salaries are often pegged to global benchmarks, with hefty stock options and performance bonuses, while most employees see only modest annual raises.

Female vs Male: The Gender Pay Gap in India’s IT Sector

The pay gap in Indian tech isn’t just about CEOs versus employees. Across the sector, women are consistently paid less than men, and this difference becomes even more pronounced at senior levels.

The gender pay gap remains a consistent issue across India’s top IT companies. In each of these firms, female employees earn significantly less than their male colleagues.

The gender pay gap is widest at HCL, where the median female salary (₹9.53 Lakh) is just 52% of the median male salary (₹18.18 Lakh). At TCS, women earn about 63% of what men make, while Infosys has the smallest gap among the three. 

These numbers highlight persistent unequal pay for men and women in similar roles and emphasize the need for stronger pay equity measures.

Why the Pay Gap Matters Beyond the Numbers

This isn’t just a number on a report; it’s the reality that affects morale, team dynamics, and how fair employees perceive the system to be. A pay structure heavily skewed toward the top can undermine motivation, hurt retention, and create a disconnect between leadership and staff. In an industry built on human talent and collaboration, such a divide can weaken the foundation of success.

Employees notice when the gap between the corner office and the cubicle is this wide. If they start believing the system is stacked against them, they feel undervalued, which can gradually reduce productivity and loyalty.

The impact extends beyond the workforce, research shows customers notice too, with many increasingly caring about fairness and the values a company stands for.

A Question of Fairness and Future

The growing pay gap is raising questions about fairness and whether the current system is sustainable in the long run. As the Indian IT sector grows, with increasing demand for specialized skills like AI and data science, questions around compensation is likely to become even more critical.

For the millions of young professionals who keep the industry running, the dream of a successful IT career is now being measured against fair and equitable pay. The big question is whether the industry’s leaders will bridge this widening divide, or risk losing the very talent that powers their success.

It also makes investors and stakeholders ask: is the value created at the top actually reaching the people who make the business run every day?

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