HCL Tech's C Vijayakumar is highest-paid CEO among IT peers

HCL Technologies CEO C Vijayakumar is the highest-paid CEO in the IT industry. Vijayakumar took home Rs 27.94 crore in FY2019.

This is despite the 15.6 percent drop from the Rs 33.13 crore remuneration he received  in FY18. Though there was no explanation, this difference in part is a result of exchange rate as Vijayakumar does not receive remuneration from HCL Tech but from a subsidiary of the company.

He was closely followed by Abidali Neemuchwala, CEO, Wipro, whose annual package increased by 49.8 percent to Rs 27.32 crore in FY19.

Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys, took home Rs 24.67 crore and TCS' CEO Rajesh Gopinathan's salary for FY19 was Rs 16.02 crore.

However, HCL Tech has the least number of crorepatis compared to its peers. Executives who earn over Rs 1.02 crore per annum at HCL Tech stood at 23 in HCL Tech, down 17.8 percent from 28 in FY18.

Number of crorepatis in Wipro stand at 64, down from 77 in FY19. For the same time period, crorepatis in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose to 103 in FY19 compared to 91 in FY18, according to an Economic Times report.

The number more than doubled to 64 in Infosys, the company had stated in its annual report.

When it comes to remuneration for employees other than the key managerial personnel and whole time directors, HCL Tech employees saw the highest average increase at 4.2 percent, closely followed by Infosys at 4 percent and TCS at 3.70 percent. Wipro’s employees saw an increase of only 3.1 percent.

This is in sharp contrast to the hikes the key management received in FY19. On average, the whole time directors and key managerial personnel has seen a hike of 41.6 percent. Wipro in its annual report said payout for the CEO includes variable pay and stock options that are performance-based and time-based.