Sikka takes home Rs 48.73 cr pay

 Besides improving the company’s fortunes, Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka took home an annual salary of $7.45 million (Rs 48.73 crore) for the fiscal 2016, a 10-fold increase.

According to Infosys’ Annual Report 2016 filed at Nasdaq for ADS holders, the company stated that his basic salary is $906,923. Other compensations include $6.48 million in bonus and incentives and $51,198 accrued for long-term benefits.

Other top leaders in Infosys like chief operating officer UB Pravin Rao and executive vice-president, general counsel and chief compliance officer David D Kennedy also drew huge salaries.

Sikka, who became Infosys CEO and MD in 2014, took home a package of Rs 4.56 crore during the fiscal 2015. The Infosys board decided to extend his tenure by two years till March 2021.

According to the revised pay structure for fiscal 2017, Sikka will get an annual base salary of $1 million and $3 million in variable pay. He will also get about $7 million in stock compensation.

The annual report states, “Should Sikka fail to achieve minimum performance targets, his renumeration as proposed will fall to $3 million annually, consisting of $1 million of base salary and $2 million of time-based RSUs.”

In case the targets are exceeded, the performance-based payments for variable components of his compensation (variable pay and performance equity) will be capped at 150% of the target compensation for such variable components, it added.

Sikka has set an aspirational goal of $20 billion in revenues by 2020. His initiatives like zero distance, renew and new strategy and automation led by artificial intelligence have seen the company post stellar performances in last two quarters.

Infosys COO Rao earned about $1.39 million in annual pay during the fiscal 2016 and this includes $135,313 basic salary and $849,677 as bonus and $411,556 as other compensation and accruals for long-term benefits. Kennedy got a total compensation of $1.14 million. The report says that in the fiscal 2016, the company paid an aggregate of $1,395,402 to independent directors.