Across the board, IT CEOs are some of the wealthiest and most successful C-suite executives on the planet, be it Silicon Valley or Bengaluru. With massive shifts and new contracts going live across 2022, we decided to revisit the industry’s payscale rankings for its most powerful execs. So let’s dive right in.
1. Rs 79.95 Crore – Salil Parekh, Infosys
The Infosys head honcho has been at the forefront of Infosys since 2018, and in that time has secured massive growth for the infotech giant. Starting July 1st, he will resume working under a new contract, which will boost his earnings significantly while retaining him for another five years.
It’s an interesting situation for the company, which now has a very high ratio of median remuneration between CEOs and the average employee: 229 excluding stock options, and a whopping 872 taking stocks into account. Company founder N.R. Narayana Murthy—who famously took home a Rs 1 salary—had stated several years ago that a ratio of 20 to 25 was ideal, although pretty much never observed in real-life scenarios.
That said, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to Parekh’s track record. The CEO’s leadership led to 314 percent increase in returns for shareholders—an industry-leading benchmark. Revenue has also grown from Rs. 70,522 crore in 2018 to Rs 1,21,641 crore in 2022. It’s no mean feat, and one even predicted by co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who held the position himself between 2002 and 2007.
2. Rs 64.34 Crore – Thierry Delaporte, Wipro
With nearly 30 years in the industry, Delaporte’s switch to Wipro in 2020 came as a game-changer. Not only was the Parisian a rare European within India’s heated IT battleground, he also led much more cross-cultural teams than his peers, through his several years at leadership positions in Capgemini.
Last year was particularly great for Delaporte, who was happy to announce $10.4 billion or Rs. 80,800 crore in revenue—a record for Wipro.
3. Rs 32.21 Crore – C. Vijayakumar, HCL Technologies
Like many other tech CEOs, Vijayakumar started relatively small. He joined HCL way back in 1994 as a senior technical engineer for a brand new Comnet startup team. His career grew with a wide range of experience. Over the years, he came to handle responsibilities across service delivery, sales, and operations, before reaching the C-suite in 2016 as HCL’s Chief Operating Officer.
Within a year, he was soon promoted to succeed Anant Gupta as CEO. Since then, Vijayakumar has brought the Noida-based company to new heights, pushing a solid Rs. 85,665 crore in revenue, 25 percent order growth, and expanding HCL’s cloud computing capabilities.
4. Rs 25.76 Crore – Rajesh Gopinathan, TCS
2021-2022 has been a pretty successful year for TCS and Gopinathan who received a 26 percent bump in his remuneration figures. This isn’t due to a direct salary hike but rather his profit commissions made him Rs 22 crore, after he was reappointed to the position in February 2022. Confident in the company’s future, he recently predicted a ‘doubling in revenue’ in a recent letter to shareholders.
5. Rs 22 Crore – C.P Gurnani, Tech Mahindra
Another 2022 reappointment, Gurnani’s company ended with a respectable 17.3 percent revenue growth, from Rs. 38,642 crore figures last year. The CEO also publicly stated that this reflected a 7-year record for Tech Mahindra, who he is contracted to lead until December 2023.
(Featured Image Credits: Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies)
