Ayush Bansal
Image: ET
Infosys CEO Salil Parekh has received an 88 percent hike this year. With this hike, Parekh now has an annual compensation package worth Rs 79.75 crore, which arguably makes him one of the best-paid senior tech executives in India.
His salary is much higher than many Silicon Valley CEOs, such as Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who has an annual package of $1 million, excluding perks and stock grants.
Infosys has revealed the compensation details of its CEO in its annual report for shareholders. As the tech company, it is rewarding Parekh with a massive compensation hike because of the industry-leading growth that Infosys has registered in recent years, a growth in which Parekh has been instrumental.
The hike in Parekh’s compensation comes just a few days after he was reappointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Infosys for 5 years, from July 1 2022 to March 31, 2027.
Infosys said that key factors like total shareholder return, rise in market cap, and growth were taken into consideration behind the massive salary hike.
The company explained in the annual report that around 97 percent of the increase in Parekh’s proposed annual remuneration is linked to his performance.
Under the revised remuneration, his fixed compensation will account for less than 15 percent of this total compensation at target, which accounts for around 23 percent under his current terms.
Infosys under Parekh
Under Parekh’s leadership, Infosys said it has executed its “market-differentiating” strategy by more than doubling the share of digital revenue from 25.5% (fiscal 2018) to 57.0% (fiscal 2022). It has signed large deals with a total value of about $39 billion for the four years from FY 2019-to 22.
Infosys said that under Salil’s leadership, the company’s total shareholder return (TSR) was up 314%, the highest among peers, and was well above the TSR (in rupee terms) of benchmark indices of Nifty at 77% and S&P 500 at 117%.
“We are starting to see inflation across several markets in the world, interest rate increases, with the European conflict and continuing covid-19 impact in some geographies creating supply chain constraints. While our demand outlook is strong, we remain vigilant to ensure we are agile and evolve our approach with the changing dynamics,” Parekh said in a letter to shareholders.
Parekh: Highest paid IT CEO in India
The firm also said Parekh’s proposed total target remuneration vis-à-vis the remuneration most recently paid to CEOs of peers would be around the median.
Peers are Accenture plc, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, DXC Technology Company, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Wipro Limited, Tech Mahindra, Capgemini, HCL Technologies Limited, International Business Machines Corporation, and Atos SE.
Parekh will be the highest-paid among Indian peers. For context, larger rival TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan’s annual salary stands at Rs 25.76 crore.
While Wipro’s Paris-based CEO has a pay of Rs 64.34 crore. HCL Tech CEO has a package of Rs 32.21 crore while Tech Mahindra CEO earns Rs 22 crore.
Parekh, currently 58 years old, has been CEO and managing director of Infosys since January 2018 and took charge during what was then a tumultuous time for the firm.