The Indian stock exchanges may not rank high on international charts in terms of the volume of business done, but they have beaten global market leaders in terms of pay hikes given to their top executives.

The two largest stock exchanges of the world -- the NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group -- cut down the remuneration paid to their respective CEOs last year.

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At the same time, the annual remunerations paid by Indian bourses, including market leaders National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange as well as new entrant MCX-SX, rose during the financial year ended March 31, 2011.

National Stock Exchange's Ravi Narain was the top-paid CEO, with gross remuneration of about Rs 7.35 crore (Rs 73.5 million) for the year 2010-11, followed by BSE MD and CEO Madhu Kannan (Rs 2.04 crore (Rs 20.4 million)) and MCX-SX chief Joseph Massey (Rs 1.80 crore (Rs 18 million)).

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NSE's managing director Ravi Narain was paid a net remuneration of Rs 3.85 crore (Rs 38.5 million), but the BSE and MCX-SX did not specify whether the remuneration figure for their chiefs was a gross or net amount.

The remuneration figures for all three stock exchange chiefs rose from the levels seen in the previous year, 2009-10, when Narain's package stood at Rs 6.60 crore (Rs 66 million), Kannan's at Rs 1.60 crore (Rs 16 million) and Massey's was Rs 1.50 crore (Rs 15 million).

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In contrast, NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Neiderauer saw his total compensation decline to $7.05 million (about Rs 31 crore) in 2010 from $7.2 million in the previous year.

Nasdaq OMX CEO Robert Greifeld's total compensation fell more sharply to $5.8 million in 2010 from $13.8 million in the previous year.

The NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX are the world's two largest stock exchanges on a number of parameters, including trading volumes, traded turnover value and the market capitalisation of listed stocks.

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On the other hand, Indian bourses NSE and BSE do not figure among the top-ten in the world in terms of market cap or turnover value, but are ranked 4th and 7th in terms of the number of trades, as per the first-half figures for 2011.

Interestingly, the latest statistics report from the World Federation of Exchanges showed that the trading volume and turnover value fell in the first six months of 2011 at both the US stock exchange giants NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX, as also on the top Indian bourses NSE and BSE.

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While the decline in top executive pay at the US bourses was in sync with the decline in their business volumes, a reverse trend has been seen at the Indian exchanges.

The figures for MCX-SX, which trades only in currency market, were not available in the WFE report for the first half of 2011.

Among other major global bourses, London Stock Exchange CEO Xavier Rolet's salary remained unchanged at 670,000 British pounds in the last financial year, ended March, 2011.

However, Rolet's total remuneration rose to 1.97 million British pounds (from 1.71 million British pounds in the previous year) due to a higher performance bonus payment.

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The salary figures were not available for a host of other major exchanges, including the Tokyo Stock Exchange and China's Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges.

The figures were not comparable for the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) either, as it appointed a new CEO last year.

While Paul Chow, who retired as its CEO on January 16, 2010, got a total of 4.89 million Hong Kong dollars, his successor Charles Li's total remuneration was 16.62 million Hong Kong dollars for 2010.