Source: The Economic Times
BENGALURU, June 2 – According to the company’s annual report released on Monday, Infosys CEO Salil Parekhs total pay increased by almost 22% to ₹806.2 million ($9.44 million) in the last financial year. That makes him among the highest-paid chief executives in India’s information technology (IT) industry ($1 = 85.3600 Indian rupees).
Parekh has been in charge of Infosys since 2018, he earned a fixed salary of ₹79.4 million and a bonus of ₹231.8 million, while the bulk of his pay – ₹495 million – came from stock options he exercised during the year.
His earnings have gone up consistently. In 2023, he received $6.76 million, and in 2024, he received $7.9 million. The primary reason for the increase year over year has been the value of stock options.
Thus, while his compensation increased, Infosys reported revenue growth year-on-year for the financial year 2025 of only 4.2%. This was slightly lower than the 4.5% to 5% growth forecasted by the company. For the current year, Infosys is estimating revenue growth in the range of 0% to 3%, further indicating that they are continuing to face tough business circumstances.
India’s $283-billion IT industry is seeing slower growth. Analysts say this is partly due to uncertain U.S. trade and tariff policies impacting how IT firms are planning future business in key markets.
K. Sudarshan, the managing director at EMA Partners, said, “Majority of Infosys revenue is from the U.S. and other global markets. The compensation is in line and consistent with what companies of this scale and size pay globally. Boards of Indian tech companies are indeed aware and need their leaders to be retained and paid appropriately in this challenging environment”
In the contrast to Parekh, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO K. Krithivasan earned $3.11 million, and Wipro CEO Srinivas Pallia earned $6.28 million based on their latest disclosures.
Of the top five Indian IT companies, only Infosys and HCLTech have retained the same CEOs for the last 18 to 24 months. This clearly demonstrates how much companies value leadership stability.
Even with the slowdown in growth in the IT sector, the compensation for the CEO of Infosys is a reflection of the company’s commitment to providing strong and effective leadership and establishing competitive positioning on a global level in the competitive market and economic conditions.
