Infosys CEO Salil Parekh to earn $10.2 million a year; how does his salary compare to chief executives at Accenture, Cognizant and IBM?

Infosys handed its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Salil Parekh an 88 percent pay hike, to $10.2 million a year, making him one of the highest-paid executives in India, as the software services firm justified the fat hike citing industry-leading growth in recent years.

With the hike, Parekh stands fifth in the list of highest compensation received among peers in global software companies such as Accenture, Cognizant, IBM, and DXC Technology, among others.

The highest-paid executive 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 in the money table, is Michael J. Salvino, President and CEO at DXC Technology earning $13 million annually.

Infosys had said earlier that Parekh's proposed total target remuneration vis-à-vis the remuneration most recently paid to CEOs of peers would be around the median.

Also Read: Infosys CEO Salil Parekh gets 88% pay hike, salary jumps from Rs 42 crore to Rs 79 crore per annum

Globally, other Infosys peers are Capgemini and Atos SE. Aiman Ezzat, CEO and Director, Capgemini, and Rodolphe Belmer, CEO, Atos SE earn $1.96 million and $1.35 million annually, respectively.

Further, Parekh will be the highest-paid among Indian peers. For context, larger rival TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan's annual salary stands at $3.32 million, while Wipro’s Paris-based CEO has a payment of $8.29 million. HCL Tech CEO has a package of $4.15 million while Tech Mahindra CEO earns $2.83 million

The salaries mentioned, other than those of Julie Sweet and Brian Humphries, are excluding stock plan payments.