India’s corporate boardrooms are witnessing a salary revolution, with newly minted Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) commanding compensation packages between ₹1-2.5 crore annually, rivalling pay scales of traditional C-suite executives at industry giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra. Hiring experts estimate double-digit year-on-year growth in demand for these roles, with CAIOs leading the pack.
CXO roles are evolving traditional executive roles to cross-functional, AI-native leadership mandates across GCCs, tech, and non-tech sectors. TeamLease Digital staffing company called this ‘the Leadership 2.0 era,’ where CAIOs, CDOs, and Chief Product Officers (CPOs) are leading GenAI governance, while other C-suite level roles pertaining to Finance, HR and Marketing now anchor AI-based risk, people, and customer intelligence.
Similarly, CAIO roles have emerged as a significant area of interest in the last 12 months or so, said CIEL HR solutions company. Together, CAIO, CDO, and CPO roles account for about 15–18 per cent of leadership mandates the HR company manages.
The company expects these roles to grow in demand as GCCs evolve into hubs of excellence, innovation, and product development.
Both companies confirmed CAIOs to enjoy the lion’s share of compensation with salaries going upto ₹2.5 crore per annum for high-impact talent.
CDOs enjoy salary levels between ₹45 lakh and ₹1.5 crore per annum with MNCs typically leaning toward the higher end of this band. CPOs reported ₹60 lakh and ₹1.5 crore per annum salaries with high-growth SaaS and product organisations offering the higher end of the band for seasoned leaders.
“We expect sharp growth in CAIO roles over the next few years. CDO roles will continue to expand, evolving beyond digital transformation to embedding digital into core business operations, directly impacting the bottom line. CPOs will see sustained demand as product ownership and strategy responsibilities increasingly shift to India,” said Ganesh S Padmanabhan, VP at CIEL HR.
Padmanabhan expected the role-holders enjoy significant upward mobility with CAIOs serving as a strong entry point into broader business leadership. CDOs are already managing P&L responsibilities, while CPOs are gain global exposure as more GCCs take on end-to-end product ownership.
However, GCCs are not the only ones interested in CAIO roles. In the last week of August, TCS decided to appoint Amit Kapur, the current UK Country Head of the company, as the first Chief Al and Services Transformation Officer, as per an internal note obtained by businessline.
Further, despite recent layoffs, large firms continue selective hiring, adding over 12,700 employees in FY25, signaling long-term confidence in tech talent, said Sarbojit Mallick, Co-Founder of Instahyre. Mid-tier IT companies face tighter cash flow conditions and share price pressures but are still expanding headcount in essential areas. Overall, workforce investment is being treated not as a cost center but as a growth driver for India’s IT sector.
Traditional roles such as CIO and COO are transitioning to platform orchestration and AI-led operational agility. Meanwhile, non-tech enterprises are embedding AI across functions, with CHROs, CFOs, and CMOs now leveraging analytics and automation to drive business outcomes.
Published on August 31, 2025