iGate chief gets lowest bonus in three years

Phaneesh Murthy gets 60% of his performance-related bonus in 2012

For the first time in three years, Phaneesh Murthy, the chief executive of iGate, the Nasdaq-listed information technology  services company, has seen a cut in his performance-related annual bonus amount.

This is considered a sign of the difficulty for heads of IT companies to meet targets in a volatile environment.

In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US markets regulator, the company said Murthy was given $365,000 in performance-based annual cash bonus against the targeted $600,000 for the 2012 financial year (January to December).

In 2010 and 2011, Murthy was paid $540,000 and $1,130,000 in annual bonus, respectively, against the targeted $500,000 each.

In 2011, the company had given its top executives a one-time bonus payment of $400,000 million, in recognition of their efforts to successfully integrate Patni Computer Systems’ operations and business with iGate.

The only top executive of iGate who got more than his target bonus amount in financial year 2012 was Sujit Sircar, the chief financial officer of the US-based company. He was given $135,093; the target bonus amount was $112,578.

And, Sanjay Tugnait, who joined as an executive vice-president to drive sales in North America, as well as global alliances, since July 2012 was paid the entire targeted bonus amount. His target was $500,000, pro-rated to $255,476, based on the date he’d joined.

In the financial year ending December 31, iGate posted a 37.8 per cent increase in revenue at $1.073 billion, slightly below the target of $1.08 bn.

Among the offshore-centric IT services companies which follow the January-December accounting period, Cognizant has already said most of its top performers will be rewarded with close to their entire targeted bonus amount for 2012.

“In years where we beat our original growth guidance, we paid significantly above the target. For 2012, where we missed our original guidance, our bonus payout will again be a reflection of that performance," a company spokesperson told <I>Business Standard</I> in an email statement. "It must, however, be noted that our top performers will be rewarded well over 100 per cent and most others close to 100 per cent.”