Meet the wealthiest CEO of India, who left Infosys to lead Cognizant, earned 14% salary in fiscal 24, earning Rs 6.8 crore, but due to…

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar’s total compensation increased by nearly 14% (approximately Rs 68 crore) in fiscal 2024, according to the company’s latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, this is still below his target salary of $16.1 million (about Rs 13.3 crore), as some of his stock-based rewards have not yet been vested.

Charges in 2023, with target salary increase of 11%

Ravi Kumar became CEO of Cognizant in January 2023 after moving from Infosys. The company increased its target direct compensation by 11% for fiscal 24 and recognized his performance and aligned with other technology CEOs around the world.

The Cognitive Compensation Commission noted in its regulatory filing that the decision was based on his first-year performance and CEO compensation trends at his peer companies. As a result, his target salary was hit $16.1 million.

His target salary of Rs 13.3 billion includes

Kumar’s target salary for fiscal 24 years has four main components:

Basic wage: USD 1.2 million (about Rs 1 million), up 20%

Annual Cash Incentives (ACI): USD 2.4 million (about Rs 20 crore), also up 20%

Performance Sharing Unit (PSU): USD 7.5 million (approximately Rs 62 crore), up 9%

Restricted Stock Units (RSU): USD 5 million (approximately Rs 41 crore), up 9%

Despite this, Kumar did not receive the full amount. Since PSU rewards are related to future performance, they belong only when the set goals are achieved.

Realize salary for fiscal 24: Rs 68 crore

The actual amount taken home by Ravi Kumar is about Rs 680 crore, mainly including:

His full basic salary

His annual bonus expenditure is 107.3% of the target

RSU’s quarterly ownership, worth approximately US$4.49 million (Rs 3.7 crore)

The company clarified that his lower salary is expected as most of his long-term stock grants are still ahead of future performance milestones.

India’s highest salary CEO

Ravi Kumar is now an Indian – one of the former technology CEOs. Here are some other on the list:

HCL Technology CEO C Vijayakumar

Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte

Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath

Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys

L&T CEO SN Subrahmanyan

Sandeep Kalra, CEO of Continuing Systems