Top Infosys execs see massive slump in pay packages

Top executives of Infosys Ltd have seen a massive decline in their annual salary packages for the recently-ended 2012-13 fiscal, led by executive co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan and chief executive officer S D Shibulal.

The two, who are also founding members of the Indian IT services exporter, have witnessed a nearly 30 per cent drop in their annual salary package compared to the previous financial year, according to a filing by the company before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Infosys said that it paid $104,661 in total compensation to Gopalakrishnan for FY13, which is a 29 per cent decline when compared with $147,401 paid to him for FY12. Similarly, Shibulal received an annual compensation of $104,659 for FY13, against $145,876 in FY12, showing a fall of nearly 28 per cent.

The annual package includes the salary, bonus and incentives and other compensation. This does not include the amount accrued in long-term benefits.

The sharp fall in compensation for FY13 was largely on account of a severe cut in the bonus and incentive component.

Among other key executives, V Balakrishnan, who currently looks after other businesses of Infosys, saw a 37-per cent fall in the total compensation. For 2012-13, Balakrishnan was totally paid $351,043, against $561,232 in FY12.

Board members Ashok Vemuri and B G Srinivas saw a 23-per cent and 27-per cent decline in their annual compensation, respectively.

Chandrasekar Kakal, head of Infosys enterprise solution unit, also saw a massive fall of 40 per cent in total compensation for FY13 touching $268,933, against $444,768 in FY12.

There were others who managed to get an increase in total compensation, with Stephen Pratt, head of Infosys' consulting business, becoming the highest-paid executive. For FY13, Pratt received a total package of $2,129,785, showing a rise of 7 per cent compared with $1,986,653 in FY12.

Basab Pradhan, global sales head of the company, saw a 9 per cent jump in total compensation at $505960 in FY13.

The overall fall in total compensation for the top executives at Infosys is also a reflection of the overall trend within the Indian IT industry which, of late, is witnessing a single- digit hike in annual salaries.