Infosys founders effect? IT-giant to pay new CEO Salil Parekh lesser salary than predecessor Vishal Sikka

New Delhi: Infosys CEO Salil Parekh will be paid an average of Rs 1.33 crore per month in his first three months in office – much less than the average monthly pay of his predecessor Vishal Sikka. However, Parekh’s package will rise over the long-term to up to Rs 3 crore a month from April onwards after including stock options at the IT giant, where former top executives’ salaries had faced sharp criticism by the founders. Besides, he will get a one-time equity grant of Rs 9.75 crore in two instalments but his package will still remain below that of Sikka, who received an average pay of Rs 3.7 crore per month in 2016-17. Parekh, who was brought into Infosys from global rival Capgemini, will get an annual fixed salary of Rs 6.5 crore and a variable pay of upto Rs 12.18 crore (a maximum of 125 percent of Rs 9.75 crore is payable, contingent upon achieving set targets) during 2017-18. In addition, he will receive an annual grant of restricted stock units of Rs 3.25 crore and Rs 13 crore in annual performance equity grants. [caption id=“attachment_4242599” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Salil Parekh, new CEO, Infosys. Pic Courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Sikka, who quit in August last year after a protracted row with Infosys founders – had drawn a total compensation, including bonus and grant of stocks, of Rs 45.11 crore in 2016-17 (as per Infosys’ annual report). Infosys has sought shareholder approval for the appointment of Parekh as the CEO and MD through a postal ballot that included details related to his term as well as compensation. The ballot also gave details of severance pay terms for Parekh, stating that he will receive 50 percent of fixed pay and bonus (of the previous 12 months) and vesting of outstanding stock options till that period. The hefty severance pay to Rajiv Bansal, Infosys’ former CFO, was among the issues flagged by co-founder N R Narayana Murthy who had alleged corporate governance lapses at the country’s second largest IT services firm. Parekh joined Infosys on 2 January for a five-year term, with the option of renewal of contract for three more years subject to the shareholders’ approval.