Indian executive pay 'rising faster than per capita income'

Pay rates among top-level managers and executives in India are outpacing the average level of salary inflation among the general public.

This is according to a study led by the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, which reveals that India's per capita income grew by 15.6 per cent in 2010-11, compared to more than 36 per cent among executives, reports PTI.

The rise is coinciding with a recent period of strong growth for the Indian economy, with the average salary of the 25 top-paid Indian executives over the last year coming to around 330 million rupees (£4.22 million).

Krishnamurthy Subramanian, assistant professor for finance at the Indian School of Business, noted that the disconnect between executive pay and that of normal workers can be attributed to the introduction of stock-based compensation schemes.

"Performance-based compensation has emerged as the major trend," he said.

India is currently attempting to strengthen its business infrastructure through the introduction of new corporate governance legislation, replacing rules that have been in place since the 1950s.