Bangalore: Pay of Indian CEOs is slowly nearing the mark of its western counterparts, reports Mahima Puri of The Economic Times. This was revealed by a study conducted by Aon Hewitt. The median pay of Indian CEOs based on Purchasing Power Parity stood around $3.5 million in 2011. The pay of global CEOs stood around $6 million.

More than 160 Indian organizations contributed to this study. Out of this number, 49 firms have revenue greater than $2 billion. The study considered the economies of Europe, North America and the Pacific region for the survey. The survey reveals the following trends – Indian CEOs of the participating firms earn a median pay 40 to 50 percent higher than the average median pay, firms with dominant chairpersons and shareholders receive 60 percent less pay than independent CEOs and in India, like in Europe, 35 to 40 percent of the pay is fixed. Since, most Asian countries have a bend towards fixed compensation; they are relatively protected from 'compensation mishaps,' which result in pay cuts in the remaining parts of the world.

A few reasons behind the increase in CEO pay are as follows – relatively steady economic growth of India, greater demand than supply of able CEOs, no qualms with high pay as long as results are delivered, recognition of Indian talent, increased scale of operations and evolved roles of CEOs.

Another key finding of the study reveals that pay of CEOs of pharma, ITeS and financial services sectors is nearer to the $3.5 million mark, when compared to other sectors. Anandorup Ghose, Solutions Leader-Executive Compensation and Governance at Aon Hewitt says, "Sectors like financial services and ITeS follow global policies while paying their CEOs in India, and hence their compensations match closely with their global counterparts. But in sectors like telecom, it is more because of the demand for the unique talent in the segment."