TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-Infosys on Monday vehemently defended an over 33 per cent pay hike for its COO, saying it is in line with global standards, even as former executives V Balakrishnan and T V Mohandas Pai joined co-founder N R Narayana Murthy in criticising the move.
The country’s second-largest software services company said the increase in Rao’s salary followed a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies. The eruption of a fresh row between some founders and the top management saw the stock take a beating with a fall of over 1 per cent in an overall bullish market.
The company claimed that the net hike for Rao came to just 1.4 per cent for 2017-18 after accounting for a four-year vesting period of stock, a 10.6 per cent drop in cash component and performance-based pay going up to 63 per cent from 45 per cent of total compensation. “This (hike) could go up to 33.4 per cent in year 4, assuming similar grants are made in subsequent years based on company and individual performance,” Infosys explained.
