When a company cuts pay, how often does the boss take the same hit as everybody else? According to a report released by Hay Group, a global management consultancy, the growth in compensations of chief executive officers and other top executives may dip to single digits in the coming year.

“After witnessing double-digits growth in previous years, compensation of chief executive officers and other top executives is set to increase by a modest 9%- 9.4 % in the coming year,” the Top Executive Compensation Report found.

Indian enterprises are addressing salary increases by moving higher parts of the increments into pay for performance. Interestingly, variable pay, as a percentage of CTC, is highest in the retail sector (29%), followed by utilities (26%), telecommunications (25%) and oil and gas (24%).

“Sectors such as retail are still evolving in terms of business model and readily-available talent - so external recruitment of CEOs” is high, the study, which covered 158 organisations operating in India, said.