Wipro CEO highest paid among Indian IT peers in FY22, taking home $10.5 million pay cheque

Thierry Delaporte, CEO and Managing Director of Wipro

Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte’s total compensation came in at $10.5 million (Rs 79.66 crore) for FY22, making him India’s highest paid IT industry chief during the period. 

In an US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on June 9, Wipro disclosed that Delaporte was paid $1.7 million in salary and allowances, $2.5 million in commission, $2 million in benefits and the rest of the amount of over $4 million fell into the ‘others’ bucket.

The Wipro CEO had raced past his peers in FY21 after he took the reins of the Indian IT major in July 2020. In the first nine months of his tenure, his remuneration was Rs 64 crore ($8.8 million). This included a salary component of Rs 9.6 crore, commission of Rs 11.2 crore, Rs 5.5 crore as long-term compensation and Rs 37.81 crore as other income, according to a regulatory filing.

Moneycontrol earlier reported that Infosys CEO Salil Parekh’s pay was $9.36 million (Rs 71.02 crore based on March 31 conversion rate of $1 = Rs 75.87) in the period of 2021-22.

TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan was paid Rs 34 crore ($4.48 million) in FY22.

In FY21, HCL CEO C Vijayakumar made $4.15 million, Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani got a remuneration of $2.83 million.

The highest-paid IT CEO globally is Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture plc, with a salary of $23 million including payments received on stock plans as of FY22, followed by Brian Humphries, CEO of Cognizant, who earned $19.6 million including stock plan payments in FY22.

IBM CEO and chairperson Arvind Krishna, with a salary of $17.56 million, stands third. Immediately preceding the reappointed managing director and CEO of Infosys on the money table is Michael J Salvino, president and CEO at DXC Technology earning $13 million annually.

Widening disparity

A Moneycontrol analysis last month showed that while IT CEO pay has gone through the roof in the past 10 years, fresher salaries have stagnated. 

While the median annual pay of CEOs zoomed 835 percent from Rs 3.37 crore in FY12 to Rs 31.5 crore in FY22, the median salary package of freshers grew just 45 percent — from Rs 2.45 lakh to Rs 3.55 lakh — over the course of a decade.

The specific ratio of pay between the CEO and the fresher tells a sadder story — it is 1,973 for Infosys, 2,111 for Wipro, 1,020 for HCL Technologies, 676 for L&T Infotech, 644 for Tech Mahindra, and 619 for TCS, according to data from TeamLease Digital.