Sikka hits pay dirt, rakes in Rs 48.7 cr in salary last fiscal

Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka took home Rs 48.73 crore in salary last fiscal, a nearly 10-fold jump in his earnings that include incentives, bonus and stock options.
Sikka, who was appointed to top job at India's second largest software exporter on June 14, 2014, earned Rs 4.56 crore in 2014-15, Infosys said in its annual report.
His remuneration included Rs 5.96 crore of basic salary and Rs 33 lakh of retirement benefits. The remaining Rs 42.44 crore was in form of bonus/incentives.
"During fiscal 2016, Sikka was granted RSU (Restricted Stock Units) valued at USD 2 million on the grant date. The RSUs will vest over a period of four years from the date of grant," it said, adding he was also granted 1.24 lakh stock options in 2015-16.

In 2014-15, the company had given him 1.08 lakh shares, of which he exercised rights for 10,824 units.
U B Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, saw a 52.6 per cent rise in remuneration to Rs 9.28 crore in 2015-16 and was not given any stock options.

Rao's remuneration included Rs 0.89 crore of basic salary, Rs 2.55 crore of perquisites and allowances, Rs 16 lakh of retirement benefits and Rs 5.68 crore of bonus/ incentives.
The annual report said the company has extended the tenure of Sikka, who is credited with turning around the fortunes of Infosys, by nearly two years till 2021. He will get up to USD 11 million annual compensation for this period.

From April 1, 2016, he will get a base salary of USD 1 million annually plus USD 3 million of variable pay. He will also get USD 2 million worth of stock annually and another USD 5 million worth of performance-based equity and stock options upon achievement of certain performance targets.
"Should Sikka fail to achieve minimum performance targets,
his remuneration as proposed will fall to USD 3 million annually, consisting of USD 1 million base salary and USD 2 million of time-based RSUs.
"If Sikka's performance targets are exceeded, the performance-based payments for variable components of this compensation (variable pay and performance equity) will be capped at 150 per cent of the target compensation for such variable components," the report said.

Infosys reported a rise in net profit by 1.9 per cent in 2015-16 to USD 2.05 billion while revenues grew 9.1 per cent to USD 9.5 billion.
Sikka is eyeing revenue of USD 20 billion by 2020, more than double of USD 9.5 billion sale in 2015-16.
Once an industry bellwether, Infosys lost out to rivals like TCS and HCL Technologies in terms of growth. Besides, it faced other issues like attrition and exodus of senior-level executives.