Nestle, HUL Curb CEO Salary Hikes To Under 5% Amid Urban Slowdown, Tepid Growth
In contrast, Tata Consumer Products CEO Sunil D'Souza received a substantial 28.4% pay raise.
Top executives at Nestle India Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. have received modest salary hikes of under 5% in the financial year 2025 — a sharp pullback from previous years — reflecting the companies' weak financial performance amid a slowdown in urban consumption.
Suresh Narayanan, chairman and managing director of Nestle India who will hang up his boots in July, earned a 5% salary hike in fiscal 2025, taking home Rs 23.47 crore — down sharply from a 16% increase in the previous 12-month period, showed its annual report released Tuesday.
Peer HUL's top boss Rohit Jawa's annual pay package also saw a modest 3.7% increase to Rs 23.23 crore in fiscal 2025.
Jawa took over as CEO and MD in June 2023. He earned Rs 22.39 crore in FY24, implying this was his first annual compensation from the firm.
Analysts say the modest pay hike is indicative of a surge in the cost of living and slow wage growth that eroded urban consumers' purchasing power, forcing them to cut back on buying packaged goods and pressuring earnings of consumer goods makers already reeling from high input costs.
Nestle India's revenue from operations grew 3.3% to Rs 20,201 crore in fiscal 2025, with consolidated net profit being largely flat at Rs 3,207.59 crore. Operating margins fell to 23.6% during the fiscal versus 24.2% a year ago.
Turnover of HUL, the country's largest consumer goods maker, came in at Rs 60,680 crore in fiscal 2025, with underlying sales and volume growth at 2% each. Operating margin stood at 23.5%, down 30 basis points year-on-year.
In contrast, Tata Consumer Products Ltd. MD and Chief Executive Officer Sunil D'Souza received a substantial 28.4% raise, with his salary rising to Rs 13.01 crore in fiscal 2025. This comes as the company outperformed its peers in top-line growth. During the financial year, TCPL's revenue from operations rose 16% to Rs 17,618 crore, with 9% organic growth.
HUL CEO's remuneration included a salary of Rs 3.65 crore, allowances of Rs 11.45 crore, a bonus of Rs 3.78 crore, and long-term incentive perquisites amounting to Rs 2.76 crore. His remuneration was 146.47 times more than the median remuneration of employees. Interestingly, the annual report also showed a fall of 8.46% in the number of HUL's permanent employees.
Nestle's Narayanan's annual pay package, meanwhile, included Rs 13.79 crore as salary and allowances, Rs 5.5 crore as perquisites, Rs 3.65 crore as commission and performance linked incentives. The company contributed Rs 50.5 lakh towards his PF account during the year. The CMD's salary was 121 times more than the median remuneration of employees.
Narayanan, who is set to retire from the role on July 31, will be succeeded by Manish Tiwary on Aug. 1. Tiwary has been serving as managing director (designate) since Feb. 1. Prior to this, he was the country manager of Amazon India and has a career spanning over three decades in e-commerce and consumer goods, including a 20-year stint at Unilever.
