MUMBAI: A new breed of younger Indian CEOs is rewriting the rules of the compensation game. In the process, they are topping their American and European peers to stand out as the highest paid executives globally, something which was once the exclusive preserve of executives from companies based outside India.The average annual salary for an Indian CEO below the age of 50 years now stands at Rs 7.9 crore. Compared with the Rs 7.3 crore that American corner office occupants earn and Rs 7.8 crore pocketed by European bosses, it highlights the rising salaries of younger CEOs, especially in promoter-run firms in India.Younger Indian CEOs may have stolen a march over their global peers in the salary sweepstakes but overall, Indian CEO salaries are substantially lower than their international counterparts. This was revealed in a study by global recruitment firm Randstad, which was commissioned by TOI to compare the differentials that exist between salaries of Indian CEOs vis-à-vis their western counterparts.The compensation of Indian CEOs, though growing sharply, is still 45% lower than their American peers and 21 % lower than European CEOs. However, the gap in salaries when compared to European CEOs is shrinking faster, especially in the manufacturing, energy and infrastructure segments, the study points out. Indian CEOs received an average salary of Rs 6.3 crore.The study is based on conversion of international salaries to Indian rupees by applying a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) conversion factor of 20.224. This basically means that the exchange rate is adjusted so that identical goods in two different countries have the same price when expressed in the same currency. As a representative sample, Randstad took into consideration companies that form the BSE100 (for India), FT100 (for Europe) and S&P100 (for US) indices as of August 20, 2012. All long-term benefits like stock options were excluded.“With current levels of inflation , and if India's GDP shows higher growth, the gap between salaries in India will come closer to the levels of the western world. The younger Indian CEOs are compensated better, because there is a higher concentration of promoter CEOs in this group. We can see that in sectors like manufacturing, energy and infrastructure, first-generation promoters are passing on the CEO mantle to their heirs and other family members," says Balaji E, MD & CEO, Randstad India.However, the trend of promoter CEOs earning more than professional CEOs is not restricted to the younger lot. Across India Inc , promoter CEOs earn 53% higher than professional CEOs, the study revealed.While professional Indian CEOs still need to catch up with their international peers, the gap in the average salary is highest in the information technology, telecom and communications, finance , retail, media and entertainment sectors, closely followed by the consumer goods industry. In the manufacturing, energy and infrastructure segments, the compensation of Indian CEOs is at par with the European CEOs due to the higher concentration of promoter CEOs in these two segments.“Today, more and more Indian CEOs get compensated at world-class levels. This trend is driven by several factors. Firstly, it speaks of the professionalization of management and secondly, the most critical constraint to growth is the availability of general managers. It is just pure supply and demand. Finally, professional managers have a considerable set of opportunities to choose from. The broad implication is that, going forward, India cannot become competitive by playing cost arbitrage but has to master the innovation game," says Vijay Govindarajan, professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a part of the celebrated Thinkers 50 group.Some Indian executives, however, think that the differences in the way salaries are structured for Indian CEOs compared to their western counterparts would continue for a while. “There is a difference between CEO compensation in India as compared to the US and Europe. American CEOs, in particular, and businesses have much greater risks attached to them. The stress that leaders undergo makes them demand far greater compensations whereas in the Indian context, the time lines for performance and the risk factor is much lesser," says Hari T, chief people officer at IT services major Mahindra Satyam .Indian CEOs from the manufacturing segment earned the highest at Rs 8.7 crore, followed by CEOs from consumer goods with an average salary of Rs 5.6 crore. The other significant point to have emerged from the study is that private sector CEOs are compensated 21 times more than public sector CEOs. With an average salary of Rs 6.3 crore, private sector CEOs are compensated far better than their public sector counterparts, who earn an average compensation of Rs 0.3 crore. The salaries of CEOs of the public sector do not include benefits and perquisites provided to those in the private sector.Rajeev Chopra, CEO and MD, Philips Electronics India, is more pragmatic and refuses to buy into the euphoria over increasing salaries of Indian CEOs. “Broadly speaking, compensation has always been and will continue to be a function of a myriad factors, such as the prevailing salary structure in the country's job market, the specific industry, the business situation a particular company finds itself in, etc. Therefore, clearly, a 'one size fits all approach' has not worked and may not work in the context of global salaries."Be that as it may, due to the increasing complexities of Indian businesses, salaries can only go up.Besides, comparisons would never cease considering salaries remain the biggest point of discussion across management levels in global businesses.