Tech Mahindra’s latest annual report reveals that Managing Director and CEO Mohit Joshi received an 11.76% increase in his total compensation package, climbing to ₹67.55 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26.
The bump vaults him past the bosses of rival heavyweights like TCS and Wipro, cementing his position as one of the highest-paid leaders in India’s IT services corridor.
1. Inside Joshi’s Compensation Structure
The CEO’s total pay packet is heavily weighted toward variable equity gains rather than a static base salary. When stripping out Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), his core cash-based remuneration actually grew by an even higher 20.39%.
The ₹67.55 crore haul breaks down into three key corporate tiers:
- Fixed Salary: ~₹17.00 crore (£1.36 million)
- Performance-Linked Bonus: ~₹13.90 crore (£1.11 million)
- Exercised ESOPs/Stock Gains: ~₹36.65 crore (£2.93 million) (Joshi exercised 2,35,364 stock options during the financial year)
[ Mohit Joshi Remuneration Blueprint — FY26 ]
Fixed Salary █████████████ ~₹17.00 Cr
Perf. Bonus ███████████ ~₹13.90 Cr
ESOP Gains ████████████████████████████████ ~₹36.65 Cr ──► Total: ₹67.55 Crore
2. The Divergence: Boardroom vs. Shop Floor
While the corner office enjoyed double-digit growth, the financial report highlights a stark internal disparity that has drawn sharp union and industry attention:
- The Median Pay Gap: Joshi’s total compensation for the fiscal year stands at an astonishing 1,085.27 times the median salary of a standard Tech Mahindra employee.
- Employee Pay Deflation: This massive multiple widened as the company’s baseline workforce experienced a 4.89% contraction in median employee remuneration over the same twelve-month window.
- Headcount and Hiring Slowdown: Tech Mahindra closed out the fiscal year with a permanent headcount of 119,337 employees. Management indicated that upcoming talent acquisition pipelines will remain highly selective, pointing toward structural adjustments and AI-driven productivity gains.
3. How the IT Leadership Leaderboard Shakes Out
Joshi’s turnaround-linked compensation pushes him to the top of the middle-tier pack, though he still trails the absolute peak of the Indian technology hierarchy:
| Indian IT Enterprise | CEO / Chief Executive Officer | Reported FY26 Remuneration |
| HCLTech | C Vijayakumar | ₹94.60 crore (Highest recorded sector peak from FY25) |
| Infosys | Salil Parekh | ₹82.60 crore |
| Tech Mahindra | Mohit Joshi | ₹67.55 crore |
| Wipro | Srinivas Pallia | ₹49.60 crore |
| TCS | K Krithivasan | ₹28.00 crore |
4. Operational Backing Behind the Payout
The board’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee justified the aggressive pay targets by pointing to a sharp operational rebound under Project Fortius—the company’s multi-year structural turnaround program launched in 2024:
The Turnaround Financials: For the full fiscal year, Tech Mahindra reported overall revenue of ₹56,815 crore (up 7.2%), while annual net profits climbed 13.2% to touch ₹4,811 crore. Crucially, operating margins expanded by a healthy 290 basis points to finish at 12.6%.
In his message to shareholders, Group Chairman Anand Mahindra (who took a comparatively modest ₹1.52 crore) reasserted that the enterprise is entering FY27 with its highest backlog of large-deal bookings in over a decade. He noted that Tech Mahindra has effectively embedded generative AI into 90% to 95% of active engagements across its largest client accounts via its proprietary agentic platform, Orion, positioning the firm to navigate global spending headwinds far more effectively.
