The country's second-largest software services company said the increase in Rao's salary followed a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies.
The comments come against the backdrop of a recent public spat between Infosys founders and board members over alleged governance lapses.
On Monday, the company's board led by chairman R Seshasayee held a press conference to specifically answer the charges of corporate governance violations that it has been accused of.
With a clutch of high-profile co- founders gunning for the Infosys board, Chairman R Seshasayee today appeared defiant in the face of biggest crisis at India's second-largest IT firm, saying he has been elected by shareholders and has a job to do that he will do.
"The concerns raised over CFO Rajiv Bansal's severance pay are valid.... But they said it was hush money, which was deeply disturbing," said Infosys Chairman R Seshasayee.
The comments come at a time when there has been a lot of buzz around some of the founders flagging concerns about governance lapses at Infosys and issues like hike in Sikka's compensation to USD 11 million and huge severance pay doled out to former executives, Rajiv Bansal and David Kennedy.
Emphasising that the founders were not looking to make a comeback to Infosys' board, former CFO Mohandas Pai today said the group has the "right" to raise "legitimate concerns" as major shareholders of the company.
After some co-founders wrote a letter to the board of IT major company seeking a review of corporate governance practices, it is emerging that they are keen to install 'value-based people' who have a deeper understanding of the company on the board.
Founders NR Narayana Murthy, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and Nandan Nilekani among others are learnt to have raised concerns over the governance of the company, sources told CNBC-TV18 on Tuesday.
In his New Year message to the employees, Sikka said by achieving all that they set out to do, Infosys can be a force powering the purposeful evolution of our world.