Planning Commission echoed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's concern that corporate salaries were excessive but said there was no proposed move to impose any cap on their salaries.

"Whatever the Prime Minister has said is being said by many western countries," Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said and pointed out that if government officials have begun to perceive that corporate sector offered lucrative opportunities then it would not help anyone.

He, however, said there was no proposed move on capping corporate salaries. On Thursday, Singh had cautioned that rising income and wealth inequalities, if not matched by a corresponding rise of incomes across the nation, could lead to social unrest.

He suggested that corporate India should resist excessive remuneration to promoters and senior executives and reduce conspicuous consumption - as it was "socially undesirable" and "environmentally unsustainable."

"We cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world," he said, reminding the industry that India, with over one billion people, still faces the problem of scarce natural resources on per capita basis.

He also said that corporate social responsibility must not be defined by tax planning strategies alone, but instead be based on the idea that the wealthy have an obligation to society and to nature.