BENGALURU: IT major Wipro's former chief executive officer (CEO) Thierry Delaporte took home about Rs 166 crore ($20.1 million) in FY24, which made him the highest-paid CEO of the Indian IT sector, according to the company's filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
His remuneration was doubled from FY23 when he earned about $10 million (about Rs 82.4 crore).
Cognizant CEO S Ravi Kumar is the highest paid CEO in the IT sector as he earned about Rs 186 crore for FY23 (Cognizant follows the calendar year).
On April 6, 2024, Delaporte resigned as the CEO and MD of the company. He will be relieved from the employment of the company with effect from the close of business hours on May 31, 2024. Recently in a regulatory filing, Wipro said its newly appointed CEO and MD Srinivas Pallia will receive an annual compensation in the range of Rs 37 crore to over Rs 58 crore ($4.5 million to $7 million).
According to the filings, Wipro Executive Chairman Rishad A. Premji did not take any variable pay. He is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.35% on incremental consolidated net profits of the company over the previous fiscal year. "However, in light of the fact that the incremental consolidated net profits for fiscal year 2024 was negative, the company determined that no commission was payable for fiscal year 2024 to Premji," the company said.
He took a pay cut of around 19% in FY24 with a compensation package of $769,456 (about Rs 6.4 crore) from $951,353 (about Rs 7.9 crore) in FY23.
The company's selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenue increased from 7.17% for the year ended March 31, 2023 to 7.79% for the year ended March 31, 2024. In its filings, the company also mentioned that in absolute terms, cost of revenues decreased by 2.16%, primarily due to a decrease in sub-contracting costs as a percentage of IT Services revenue from 12.50% for the year ended March 31, 2023 to 11.32% for the year ended March 31, 2024 and enhanced operational efficiencies, and a decrease in the depreciation charge for its property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets.
"Further improvement in key operational parameters, such as utilization rates for our employees and higher offshoring also contributed to the decrease in cost of revenues. These decreases have been partially offset by an increase in employee compensation due to the impact of salary increases and the employee restructuring, and an increase in facility expenses as an increased number of employees return to office," it added.
Wipro's employee compensation in FY24 stood at Rs 45,946.6 crore, compared to Rs 45,676 crore in FY23.
