Regarding women's C-suite compensation, startups in India Inc

Smaller and early-stage startups are emerging as unlikely leaders in advancing pay equity at the top, with compensation for women in C-suite roles rising sharply in 2025, according to the RazorpayX Payroll Report, Show Me The Money 2026, released on Tuesday.

The report found that salaries for women in leadership positions increased 17% this year, up from 12% the previous year. This growth significantly outpaced the 4.5% salary increase recorded for men in comparable roles, indicating a narrowing gender pay gap in India’s startup ecosystem.

Based on payroll data from more than 190,000 employees across over 6,500 companies, the study showed women’s representation in leadership roles stood at 22% in 2025. While broadly stable year-on-year, the figure remains far from parity. Overall participation of women in the registered startup workforce dipped slightly to 31% from 32% a year earlier, suggesting that while compensation equity is improving at senior levels, building a stronger leadership pipeline for women remains a structural challenge.

“What stands out in 2025 is not just how fast AI and Gen Z are entering the workforce, but how decisively they are changing how companies operate,” said Ayush Bansal, vice president at RazorpayX. “Startups are no longer scaling by adding layers; they’re scaling by building sharper, more specialised teams that can move faster and deliver more. At the same time, the improving pay trajectory for women in leadership shows companies are becoming more intentional about how they reward and retain critical talent.”

The push for equity is unfolding alongside broader shifts in hiring strategies and compensation structures. Salary growth in 2025 was largely concentrated in mid-level roles, with managers and individual contributors seeing an 18.2% rise, compared to a modest 2.7% increase for top leadership.

Overall salaries rose by an average of 7.23% across startups, but pay trends varied by function. Finance roles recorded the strongest salary growth at around 9.8%, followed by logistics and operations at 6.4%. Human resources saw increases of roughly 4.7%, while technology roles grew more moderately at 3.2%. Business roles remained largely flat at 0.4%, indicating stabilisation after earlier hiring spurts, while sales and marketing lagged with growth of about 5.1%.

Artificial intelligence also emerged as a major workforce driver. Official AI-related roles nearly doubled, rising 96.3% year-on-year. Titles such as AI engineer, AI scientist and chief AI officer expanded beyond traditional technology teams into finance, HR and operations functions.

Meanwhile, Gen Z became the dominant demographic within startups, accounting for over half of the workforce at 51.34%, particularly in execution-heavy and revenue-facing roles such as sales, finance and logistics.

Work models are evolving as well. Contract and on-demand roles surged 42% in 2025, transforming from temporary staffing solutions into a strategic, talent-on-demand approach, supported by AI-driven matching and modular team structures.

Despite aggressive hiring, attrition remained high. Startups increased hiring by 27.2% through the year, but exits also climbed to 19.4%, resulting in net workforce growth of a modest 7.8%. Sales and marketing recorded the highest hiring at 30%, though elevated exits limited net growth to 9%. Logistics and operations followed a similar trend with 28% hiring and 8% net growth. Finance and technology both posted 8% net additions, while HR trailed slightly at 5%.

The findings highlight how India’s startup ecosystem is prioritising efficiency, specialised skills and targeted talent investments, while making gradual progress toward greater pay equity at the leadership level.