An analysis of the disclosures of Biocon, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Divi’s Laboratories, Lupine, Mankind Pharma, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Zydus Lifesciences shows that executive pay at the top is not fixed and is increasingly driven by profit-linked commissions, deferred stock incentives and, in some cases, complex cross-border payment structures. This makes year-on-year (YoY) comparisons of executive pay packages more difficult.

Divi’s Labs differs from competitors due to the size and structure of its MD compensation packages.

Of the ₹100.2 crore paid to Divi in ​​FY26, only ₹0.36 crore came from perks and allowances, with the remaining ₹99.9 crore paid as commission, calculated as a percentage of the company’s net profit under Section 197 of the Companies Act, 2013. There was effectively no fixed salary component.

This suggests that Dewey’s pay fluctuates closer to the company’s bottom line. Commissions paid were 13.7 percent higher year-on-year, which tracks growth in net profit rather than any new compensation contracts or board-approved raises. It’s a formula, not a conversation, and the same pattern is reflected in the compensation paid to Divi’s leadership team.

The company’s other whole-time directors, including several members of the Divi family, saw a surprisingly similar 13.2-13.3 per cent increase in remuneration each. Divi’s Labs executive director (ED) NV Ramana earned ₹51.20 crore, whole-time director and CEO Kiran S Divi earned ₹34.84 crore, and whole-time director (commercial) Neelima Prasad Devi earned ₹34.78 crore. The nearly uniform increase in pay for all four EDs points to a formulaic, profit-linked commission pool rather than individually benchmarked pay packages.

After Diviz, Cipla’s Vohra is second with a pay package of ₹45.73 crore, up 122.7 per cent year-on-year, although the company says the salary, excluding the one-time ₹25 crore long-term incentive and retirement benefits, actually fell 25 per cent since he left the company. Zydus Lifesciences managing director Sharvil Patel came in third with a payout of ₹45 crore, which is 25 per cent higher year-on-year, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals executive chairman Sameer Mehta came in fourth with a payout of ₹36 crore during the period under review, which is 20 per cent higher. Mehta’s compensation was almost entirely commission-based. Lupine CEO Vineeta Gupta, ranked fifth in terms of executive pay, got a package of Rs 26.69 crore, and was one of the few executives in the list who saw a 1.6 per cent decline in pay.

The pay of Torrent’s top executive closely mirrors Divi’s model. Of the ₹36 crore paid, almost the entire amount was commission-based, with only ₹0.40 lakh paid in salary and perks. In contrast, Zydus’s Patel received a package split between ₹30 crore fixed salary and ₹15 crore variable pay.

Sun Pharma, India’s largest listed pharmaceutical company by revenue and market capitalisation, revealed the lowest top executive pay among the nine companies reviewed. Whole-time director and chief operating officer (COO) Alok Sanghvi earned ₹9.3 crore in FY26, while executive chairman and founder Dilip Sanghvi earned even less, ₹7.06 crore, indicating that the senior Sanghvi was paid less than his son.

This is not so much a matter of governance restraint as a function of ownership structure. The Shanghvi family holds a large promoter stake in Sun Pharma and receives the bulk of its economic returns through dividends and stock appreciation rather than executive pay – a common pattern among India’s founder-promoter-led companies. The middle of the year also saw a leadership change at Sun Pharma, with Kirti Ganorkar appointed MD effective September 1, 2025. His disclosed salary of ₹5.87 crore represents approximately seven months’ salary.

Across the nine companies, a clear structural division emerges. At Divis, Torrent and Zydus, executive pay is dominated by profit-linked commissions that scale directly with net profits rather than market-benchmark salaries, producing the sector’s most extreme pay ratios. At DRL, Sun Pharma, Lupine, MannKind and Biocon, compensation is divided more evenly between fixed salary, annual bonus and, increasingly, deferred long-term incentive or employee stock option plan (ESOP) components that vest over several years.

Biocon stands as an exception on stock options.

Promoter-executives – Vineeta Gupta and Nilesh Gupta at Lupine, the Shanghvi family at Sun Pharma, Patel at Zydus and Juneja at MannKind – are barred from ESOP schemes under the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) share-based employee benefits regulations because they are promoters.

It is only non-promoter professional executives who truly realize stock-linked value. Siddharth Mittal, Biocon’s outgoing MD and CEO, realized a discount of ₹9.30 crore from exercising stock options granted earlier, which was disclosed apart from his ₹12.98 crore cash remuneration – 76 per cent after the revised five-year tenure approved in December 2024. Biocon also saw a leadership change at the end of the financial year, with Mittal moving to another role within the group and Biocon Biologics CEO Shrihas Tambe stepping down as MD and CEO with effect from April 1. 2026.

Cross-border payment structures are also complicating similar comparisons. Lupine’s Gupta is paid entirely through its US subsidiary Lupine Management Inc., making his remuneration outside the direct reach of the Indian managerial pay limits under the Companies Act, despite voluntary disclosures.

Cipla’s Vohra was partly paid through Cipla USA Inc. DRL follows an unusual split structure, with co-chairman and MD GV Prasad’s ₹15.8 crore disclosed under the standard Section 197 table, while CEO Erez Israeli – a key managerial personnel but not a board director – gets a separate package comprising about ₹7.3 crore fixed salary, up to ₹7.3 crore in target variable pay and ₹15.3 crore in long-term incentives vested over three years. It is not recorded in the same disclosure format.

• 
  Murali Devi Earned ₹100.26 crore, highest top executive salary in pharma sector
• 99.9% of this came from profit-related commissions
• 
  umang vohra (Former Cipla MD and CEO) stood second with ₹45.73 crore
• Sharvil Patel (Zydus Lifesciences, ₹45 crore), Sameer Mehta (Torrent Pharma, ₹36 crore) and Vineeta Gupta (Lupin, ₹26.69 crore) complete the top five