Cognizant CEO’s $22.5M pay highest among Indian IT firm execs
NEW DELHI, INDIA — Cognizant‘s CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti emerged as the highest-paid executive within India’s IT sector, with a total compensation of $22.56 million last year.
According to a report by Mint, the bulk of Singisetti’s earnings comprised shares valued at $20.25 million. His compensation package includes Performance Stock Units (PSUs) with a potential payout ranging from zero to 250% of the $3 million target, contingent on the company’s stock performance over a four-year period.
Additionally, Singisetti received a $5 million equity award in Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) as compensation for equity forfeited from his previous employer.
“The actual payout may significantly differ from the target value attributed to them, potentially resulting in no payout at all,” Cognizant stated, highlighting the performance-based nature of a significant portion of his compensation.
Singisetti’s total pay constituted 0.11% of Cognizant’s $19.35 billion revenue in the last fiscal year.
Cognizant’s strong Q4 financial performance
Singisetti’s salary was made public months after Cognizant announced a 7% increase in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2023, reaching $558 million. The company’s earnings per share of $1.18 exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.04, marking a 13.46% earnings surprise and continuing a streak of surpassing consensus EPS estimates over the last four quarters.
While the company’s full-year revenue decreased slightly by 0.4% year-over-year to $19.4 billion, the full-year operating margin was reported at 13.9%, with an adjusted operating margin of 15.1%, which was 40 basis points above the guidance.
The company’s operating cash flow for the year was robust at $2.3 billion, with free cash flow of $2.0 billion, representing 95% of net income.
Cognizant expects its revenue to be between 4.68 billion and $4.76 billion in the first quarter of 2024. The full-year revenue for 2024 is projected to range from $19 billion to $19.8 billion.
Comparing CEO salaries of India’s tech firms
Mint’s report also shed light on the earnings of other top executives in the sector:
- Wipro‘s former CEO, Thierry Delaporte, received $10.1 million, which is 0.089% of the company’s $11.16 billion revenue.
- HCL Technologies‘ Vijayakumar earned $10.65 million, which is 0.085% of the company’s $12.58 billion revenue.
- Accenture‘s CEO Julie Sweet was compensated with $31.55 million, making up 0.049% of the company’s $64.1 billion revenue.
- Infosys CEO and Managing Director Salil Parekh received $6.8 million (₹56.4 crore), which is 0.037% of the company’s $18.1 billion revenue.
- Tata Consultancy Services‘ former CEO, Rajesh Gopinathan, earned $3.5 million, accounting for 0.012% of the company’s $27.9 billion revenue.
