New Delhi: Recently, Tata Group companies released their annual reports, which revealed that the salaries of chief executives within the group saw an increase of 16 to 60% during the previous fiscal year.
According to media reports, the salaries of chief financial officers (CFOs) within the group increased within the range of 6 to 35%.
Interestingly, the highest-paid Chief Financial Officer (CFO) within the Tata Group in fiscal year 2023 is not from TCS or Tata Steel. Pathamadai Balachandran Balaji emerged as the highest-paid CFO, having assumed this role at Tata Motors in 2017. Prior to his current stint at Tata Motors, Balaji worked as the CFO of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL).
Balaji’s annual remuneration saw an increase of 21% from FY22, as his total earnings in FY23 stood at INR 16.73 crore. With this, he became not only the highest-paid employee at Tata Motors but also the highest-paid CFO within the Tata Group.
In the last fiscal year, Balaji’s pay package was INR 12.73 crore. As far as the salary breakdown is concerned, it included various components such as a basic salary of INR 2.93 crore and other benefits and allowances amounting to INR 4.94 crore. Other components include a bonus and performance-linked incentive of INR 5 crore with retirement benefits of INR 36 lakh, and stock options/sweat equity worth INR 3.4 crore.
On the other hand, Koushik Chatterjee, the executive director and CFO of Tata Steel, saw a slight decrease in his remuneration. In the last fiscal year, Chatterjee emerged as the highest-paid CFO within the group, earning a total remuneration of INR 15.17 crore. But in this fiscal year, his compensation was reduced by 6% to INR 14.21 crore.
Balaji has studied at two of India’s premier institutes. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and also has a post-graduate management degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
