Indo-US salary gap for top execs shrinking
However, low-cost talent pool in India remains attractive as cost arbitrage is more for junior and mid-level employees
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Bengaluru: Salary differential among senior technology professionals between India and the US is slowly declining as India fast emerges as an innovation centre for global enterprises. Though low-cost talent pool in the country remains an attractive factor, but such cost arbitrage is available more for junior and mid-level employees than for senior talent. Industry officials said rising demand for technology talent globally is driving salaries of employees in leadership roles, thus reducing the differentials.
"The cost arbitrage has shrunk significantly at senior levels. If you take (the salary) of an enterprise architect, it will not be very much cheaper than an enterprise architect in the UK or the US. The difference may not be more than 15-20 per cent," Anand Ramakrishnan, Managing Director of Equiniti India, told Bizz Buzz. The UK-headquartered shareholder management fintech has its Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India. He, however, said that substantial salary differentials still exist in mid-level and junior that can be in the range of 50-70 per cent.
Indian IT services firms, technology captives of multinational corporations and technology startups are hiring senior talent at compensation levels that are comparable with US and European nations. Though differentials still exist, it is shrinking at a rapid pace. For instance, Accenture's CEO Julie Sweet was paid around $23 million, while IBM's Chairman Arvind Krishna's salary stood at $17.56 million last fiscal year. In comparison, Wipro's CEO Thierry Delaporte's total compensation stood at $10.5 million for FY22, while it was around $10.2 million for Infosys' CEO.
