Wipro chairman Azim Premji’s pay down 63% this year
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji’s pay package saw a huge 63% fall at $1,21,853 (about ₹79 lakh) last fiscal, with no commission being paid during the year.
The IT czar had drawn a larger compensation of $3,27,993 (about ₹2.17 crore) in the previous fiscal. Premji’s package included $66,464 in salary and allowances, $41,742 (others) and $13,647 in long-term compensation for the year 2016-17, as per documents with the US SEC.
“Azim H Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.5% on incremental net profits of Wipro for the fiscal 2017 over the previous year... For the year ended March 31, 2017, commission paid to Azim H Premji is nil,” the document said.
It added that all other executives received variable pay under a quarterly performance linked scheme, based on key parameters of individual or combined performance of the business unit, division or segment or the company as a whole. In 2015-16, Premji had received a commission of $1,39,634.
However, Wipro chief executive officer Abidali Neemuchwala’s pay package saw 16% increase to $2.09 million during FY17, which included $8,00,000 in salary, $1,50,244 in commission, $1.13 million (others) and $9,014 (deferred benefits).
The high compensation for leaders in the tech sector also come under spotlight after Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy had questioned pay hikes for senior executives at the Bengaluru-based firm.
Rishad Premji, chief strategy officer and Wipro board member, took home a salary of $2,60,015 in 2016-17 compared to $3,25,462 in the previous fiscal, a drop of 20%.