Managerial Remuneration in India: Analysing Trends before and during the Economic Slowdown

The present study seeks to analyse the growth of managerial remuneration in a sample of 150 listed companies in India over the years 2003 to 2012. The impact of slowdown period, that is, 2009–2012, on the managerial remuneration has also been investigated. In India, GDP growth rate fell down from 9.3 per cent in 2008 to 6.7 per cent in 2009 and afterwards never touched the mark of 9 per cent. The first section of time frame is from year 2003 to 2008 comprising of 6 years and second section starts from the year 2009 onwards, signifying the slowdown period of Indian economy. The present study finds a significant increase in the remuneration of directors in the slowdown period as compared to pre-slowdown era. However, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is found to be significantly less in the slowdown period and this trend is visible in almost all industries, except transport equipments sector. Managerial remuneration also differs significantly across industries. The findings of the present article bring up important implication for press media and regulatory authorities that even during the slowdown period the remuneration was on an increase despite a fall in its CAGR