HCL Tech CEO C Vijayakumar's Pay Drops 80% In FY23. Here's Why

C. Vijayakumar, chief executive officer and managing director of HCL Technologies Ltd., drew the lowest salary among peers in fiscal 2023, according to the company's annual report.

The CEO of India's third-largest IT services firm earned a total salary of $3.46 million, or Rs 28.4 crore, in FY23, including a base salary of $2 million, a performance-linked bonus of $1.43 million, and benefits, perquisites, and allowances worth $0.03 million. That's nearly 80% less than the $16.5 million, or about Rs 130 crore, he earned in FY22.

The decline in remuneration was due to the absence of long-term incentives, or LTI, which are payable every two years on "achievement of milestones or parameters decided by the board", according to the annual report. In FY22, Vijayakumar earned $12.50 million in LTI. He will receive the LTI for FY22 and FY23 at the end of FY24.

Still, the CEO's salary was 253.35 times the median pay at HCL Tech in FY23. The IT firm, as of March 31, had an overall headcount of 2,25,944 employees across 210 delivery centres in 60 countries.

Vijayakumar, who until last year was the highest-paid CEO in India's IT space, has earned the least among peers this year. In comparison, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.'s former CEO, Rajesh Gopinathan, earned Rs 29.16 crore in FY23. He was followed by Tech Mahindra Ltd.'s outgoing CEO, CP Gurnani, at Rs 30.14 crore, Infosys' Salil Parekh at Rs 56.44 crore, and Wipro's Thierry Delaporte at Rs 82 crore.

In his letter to shareholders, Vijayakumar underscored the company's performance in these uncertain times by citing the Rs 1 lakh crore revenue milestone.

"Our revenues crossed the Rs 1,00,000 crore milestone and our employee base reached the 2,25,000 mark (including an intake of 25,000 plus entry-level employees), while our service portfolio … all punched in equal weight," he said.

He also spoke on the stretched dealmaking seen in the wider Indian IT services industry.

"The rally in technology spending triggered by the pandemic is now stabilising, and clients are consolidating their technology spends to ensure speed and focus on the most cost-effective and revenue-impacting technologies," he said. "Enterprises are also consolidating vendors that have delivered with consistency, efficiency, and measurable impact and can offer a large suite of services."

On Friday, shares of HCL Technologies fell 1.27% to Rs 1,103.25 apiece on the BSE, even as the benchmark Sensex ended 0.16% lower at 66,160.20 points.