Wipro chief exec’s total compensation for 2018-19 jumps 50%

Indian information technology (IT) firm Wipro chief executive Abidali Z Neemuchwala's total compensation jumped 50% to Rs 27.3 crore for the financial year ended March 2019 from Rs 18.2 crore the previous period, showed annual reports.

Chief financial officer Jatin P Dalal’s total compensation increased to Rs 6.09 crore from Rs 4.65 crore during the period, while chairman-designate Rishad Premji’s rose nine per cent from $904,528 to $987,652. Six days ago, TechCircle reported that software services and consultancy major Wipro Ltd’s board has announced founder Azim Premji's elder son Rishad will be its new executive chairman for five years till July 2024. Chief strategy officer Rishad, who will take over as chairman from his 73-year-old father when he retires after his term finishes next month, has been working with Wipro since 2007 and has been on the board since 2015.

Azim Premji's salary and allowances didn't show much change but his total compensation rose 95% to $262,054 for 2018-19, buoyed by variable pay or commission, which was zero the previous year. 

"Azim Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.5% on incremental net profits of Wipro Ltd for 2018-19 over the previous year," the annual report said. 

Chief executive Neemuchwala will take over the additional post of managing director position from Azim when he steps down. Azim will remain on the Wipro board as a non-executive director and founder chairman. These changes will be effective from 31 July, subject to shareholders’ approval, the company had said.

Wipro, in April, had said that its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 grew 37.7% year-on-year while revenue rose nine per cent for the same period.

The Bengaluru-based company’s consolidated net profit for the three months ended March 2019 stood at Rs 2,483 crore, up from Rs 1,803 crore for the corresponding period of 2017.  

In May, TechCircle had reported that software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief executive officer and managing director (CEO and MD) Rajesh Gopinathan had taken home almost Rs 16 crore as pay package for the financial year ended March, a 28% rise over last year's Rs 12.5 crore, according to the company’s annual report.

As part of his package, Gopinathan, who took over as CEO and MD in February 2017, received a commission of Rs 13 crore, the largest component in his package, salary of Rs 1.16 crore, prerequisites of Rs 1.27 crore, and over Rs 60 lakh in other allowances. 

In April, TCS had reported that its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 grew 18% from the same quarter of the previous year, while its operating revenue rose at a similar rate.

The company posted a net profit of Rs 8,126 crore for the three months ended March 2019, an increase from Rs 6,904 crore for the same quarter of 2017-18. 

Last month, TechCircle reported that Infosys chief executive Salil Parekh drew a pay package of Rs 24.7 crore for 2018-19, which is almost 54% higher than TCS counterpart 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 chief executive 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.