Tata Sons Chairman Sees Nearly 2% Salary Hike In FY26; Pay Rises To Rs 158.7 Crore

N Chandrasekaran, the executive chairman of Tata Sons Ltd. (holding company of the Tata Group) received a 1.8% increase in his annual salary to Rs 158.66 crore in the year ended March 31, 2026. The renumeration rose from Rs 155.81 in the year-ago period, according to the holding company's annual report.

It was the highest salary that Chandrasekaran has received since Tata Sons began disclosing executive remuneration in fiscal 2022; he has earned a cumulative Rs 671.4 crore over the last five years. 

The Chairman's FY26 remuneration comprised salary and other benefits of Rs 17.97 crore, up 18% from Rs 15.12 crore in the previous fiscal, and a profit-linked commission of Rs 140.69 crore, unchanged from FY25.

While his fixed pay has risen over the past five years, the bulk of Chandrasekaran's remuneration has come from commissions, which have increased alongside Tata Sons' profitability.

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His commission rose from Rs 94 crore in FY22 to Rs 100 crore in FY23 and Rs 121.5 crore in FY24 before increasing to Rs 140.69 crore in FY25, where it remained in FY26.

While the commission remains unchanged from the previous year, the salary and other benefits are up from Rs 15.12 crore in 2024-25. The 2024-25 salary and other benefits were higher than the Rs 13.82 crore earnings of the previous year and Rs 13 crore in 2022-23. This was Rs 14.61 crore in 2021-22.

The remuneration places Chandrasekaran among India's highest-paid corporate executives.

HCLTech Chief Executive C Vijayakumar received Rs 176 crore in FY26, while Persistent Systems CEO Sandeep Kalra earned Rs 148 crore in FY25. Hero MotoCorp Executive Chairman Pawan Munjal received Rs 122 crore in FY26, the highest remuneration among Indian auto company executives.

Chandrasekaran is due to face shareholders at Tata Sons' annual general meeting on August 18, where he will retire by rotation and seek approval to continue as a director. His current five-year term as Chairman runs until February 2027.

Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director Saurabh Agrawal was the second-highest-paid executive at Tata Sons, receiving Rs 33.69 crore in FY26, including Rs 26 crore in commission.

The remaining seven board members did not receive remuneration apart from sitting fees. Director Venu Srinivasan continued to forgo commission from the company, in line with his practice since joining the Tata Sons board, the annual report said.

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At the aggregate level, the revenue of the Tata Group grew by 7.8% to Rs 16,24,030 crore in FY26, while net profits grew 51.9% to Rs 1,70,525 crore. Revenue is 2.1x, and profits are 5.4x their FY20 levels, Chandrasekaran said in the latest annual report.

Tata Sons, which holds between 25% to 73% in various listed companies of the conglomerate, saw profit rise 22% to Rs 32,000 crore while revenue was up 9% at Rs 42,000 crore.

Its board of directors have recommended a dividend of Rs 1,10,717 (previous year: Rs 64,900) per share. The dividend, if approved by the shareholders, would involve a cash outflow of Rs 4,474.58 crore (previous year: Rs 2,622.91 crore).

(With inputs from PTI)

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