MUMBAI: Flipkart Internet, the consumer-facing arm of the ecommerce giant, had over 23 employees who took home more than Rs 1 crore in annual salary last year — the same as consumer conglomerate ITC — highlighting how new-age firms are paying to attract talent, especially at the senior level.Flipkart Internet’s employee benefit expenses swelled threefold to Rs 476 crore, according to its filing with the Registrar of Companies.Mekin Maheshwari, as chief people officer, drew Rs 18.73 crore in annual remuneration during 2014-15, according to the filing.That’s more than the salaries of top chief executives such as Hindustan Unilever ’s Sanjiv Mehta and ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar.Maheshwari quit in September and now has an advisory role. The data is only for Flipkart Internet and excludes other group firms such as wholesaler Flipkart India and Flipkart Logistics.Experts said the remuneration figures could rise if other group companies are included.Flipkart did not respond to an email query. The high salaries indicate that ecommerce companies have a small pool of talent to draw from and need to pay well to attract and retain talent in a business that’s considered riskier than established companies.While ecommerce entities are increasingly edging out FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies as the hottest career destination for engineering and B-school students, it’s still a tough task for them to get the right talent on board, especially at the senior level. Experts said the nature of talent that these companies seek at a senior level is very scarce, especially in India, and they often have to look at places like Silicon Valley.“They are getting in people from the Valley or people who have worked with organisations such as Google , Adobe, Intuit. For companies like Google, the practice of paying high salaries starts at the engineering college level where they are among the biggest paymasters,” said Anuj Roy, partner, digital practice, at executive search firm Transearch.“This phenomenon continues through the hierarchy, so while getting in people from companies such as these, there is a big premium to be paid.”Still, Flipkart Internet isn’t a match as yet for India’s top consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever, which has about 169 executives who drew eight-digit salaries.IT major Infosys had 123 such employees last year and Wipro had 70. However, this could change. Earlier this year, ET reported that ecommerce companies could roll out 500 jobs with salaries exceeding Rs 1 crore each this year, according to estimates by five search firms, including RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting.While traditional companies have reached a certain scale and operate in a mature market, online players are constantly trying to prove themselves in a hyper-competitive environment.Employees are always under tremendous pressure to meet targets and, in a way, justify their salaries.“Ecommerce requires different types of skills, a different mindset, willingness to take risks and often, crossfunctional expertise. It’s hard to find people who are the right fit,” said Sandeep Murthy, partner at venture capital firm Lightbox Ventures.“Then there’s the fact that people who do fit the requirements have the options to go to many other places which are equally keen to get the same kind of talent on board. The kind of salaries you pay depend largely on who you are competing with.”Ecommerce as an industry hasn’t stabilised in India and the risk factor associated with it merits a higher salary. According to headhunters, everybody at Flipkart at the level of vice-president, senior vice-president or CXO gets more than Rs 1-1.5 crore as the cash component alone.Senior directors of certain functions such as tech would also get this amount. The biggest packages would be heavily skewed towards people in product and tech.