Infosys board for re-appointment of chairman Nilekani; CEO paid Rs 24.7 crore for 2018-19

Software services firm Infosys’ board has recommended promoter and co-founder Nandan Nilekani's re-appointment as chairman, to its shareholders, whose annual general meeting will take place on 22 June.

Nilekani did not take any remuneration in his capacity as a chairman or board member in the last financial year and will continue to work without any salary, the board resolution said. In a return to the firm, he joined the board as chairman in August 2017 after Vishal Sikka's resignation as chief executive and exit from the board. Nilekani co-founded Infosys in 1981 and was its chief executive officer (CEO) from 2002 to 2007.

After Sikka had announced his resignation, the firm cited co-founder NR Narayana Murthy's "continuous assault" as the primary reason for the exit.

For months, Murthy and a few former Infosys executives had waged a public battle against the Infosys board, accusing it of corporate governance lapses.

Meanwhile, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh drew a pay package of Rs 24.7 crore for 2018-19, which is almost 54% higher than Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO Rajesh Gopinathan's package. The country's largest software exporter TCS is close to double that of Infosys in annual revenue in rupee terms.

Parekh was appointed as CEO and managing director in January 2018 and 2018-19 was his first full year in service, hence there is no data on salary for the previous financial year. Parekh was paid 396 times more than the average Infosys employee. Parekh’s pay package consisted of a fixed salary component of Rs 6.07 crore, variable pay of Rs 10.96 crore and perquisites worth Rs 7.64 crore.

Bengaluru-based Infosys paid its chief operating officer (COO) UB Pravin Rao Rs 9.06 crore in pay package for 2018-19, which is a 10% rise over the previous year's package. Executives placed abroad like Mohit Joshi, Ravi Kumar S, Inderpreet Sawhney and Scott Sorokin, drew packages higher than the COO's.

The number of crorepati executives in India at the company has risen to more than 63 for 2018-19 from around 40 the previous year, the annual report showed. The 63 crorepatis don't include board members or the top managerial staff. For the year 2014-15, the company had more than a hundred crorepati executives.

Infosys reported Rs 82,675 crore in annual revenue for 2018-19, a 17% rise over the Rs 70, 522 crore it reported during the preceding year. The company had registered a net profit of Rs 15, 404 crore for the year ended March 2019, a fall of four per cent from Rs 16,029 crore the previous year.