HCLTech’s Chief Executive Officer C Vijayakumar earned Rs 28.4 crore ($3.46 million) in the 2023 fiscal year, making him the least-paid CEO among the top five IT companies in India. In contrast, last year, Vijayakumar was the highest-paid, having earned Rs 130 crore ($16.52 million). His pay is down by 79.05 percent from last year, as per HCLTech’s annual report for FY23.
In FY23, Vijayakumar earned $2 million as base salary (Rs 16.44 crore), $1.43 million (Rs 11.8 crore) as performance-linked bonus and $0.03 million as part of benefits, perquisites and allowances, taking the total to $3.46 million.
The decline year-on-year is primarily due to the long-term incentive (LTI), which HCLTech pays out at the end of two years. Last year, Vijayakumar had earned $12.50 million as part of the LTI. He will receive the LTI for FY22 and FY23 at the end of FY24.
LTI is paid out every two years “based on the achievement of milestones / parameters decided by the Board”. During FY22, a part of Vijayakumar’s LTI to be paid in future years was converted into the Restricted Stock Units, which are yet to vest.
Vijayakumar made 253.35 times the median employee compensation in FY23. Median remuneration for the year was up by 0.01 percent, as per the annual report.
On average, the salary increase of employees during the year was 5.14 percent. Managerial personnel — executive director, non-executive director and independent director) saw a decrease of 5.28 percent in remuneration during the year as compared to the previous year.
In comparison to Vijayakumar, Tata Consultancy Services' former CEO Rajesh Gopinathan made Rs 29.16 crore in FY23, Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani earned Rs 32 crore, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earned Rs 56.44 crore, and Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte was the highest paid at Rs 82.4 crore. Apart from Gopinathan, all others have seen a decline in pay in FY23. Incoming Tech Mahindra CEO Mohit Joshi will make at least Rs 13 crore in his first year in fixed and variable pay, a joining bonus of Rs 7 crore, as well a one-time stock grant of $2.5 mn and an annual stock option grant equivalent to $3.5 million.
In a letter to shareholders, Vijayakumar said that in FY24, they continue to operate in an “environment of high volatility”.
“A combination of factors including geopolitical uncertainties, rising inflation and softening of consumer spending in a few sectors are creating some turbulence in the market,” he said, adding that the rally in tech spending is stabilising, clients are consolidating tech spends and are focussing on cost-effective and revenue-impacting technologies.
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