Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka warned shareholders of a “challenging journey” ahead as the company embraces “tough choices” to transform itself into the next generation services firm.
In a letter to shareholders in the company’s annual report for the year 2016-2017, Mr. Sikka wrote, “We can be the next generation services company, as differentiated and iconic as we once were, a company that admires its past and builds on it, or we can be a somewhat improved, but dying, previous generation company that is mired in that past.”
“It is within us to embrace the tough choices and to move headlong, unabashedly, into creating great new features. Our work in these early years of our transformation is leading us along this path. It will continue to be a challenging journey, but it is one worth fighting for.”
Sikka’s compensation
The company’s annual report also revealed Mr. Sikka’s total annual compensation, which includes fixed pay, bonus and incentives, retiral benefits and performance-based stock incentives, was ₹45.11 crore in fiscal 2017, as against ₹48.41 crore in the previous year.
The information on the drop in compensation for Mr. Sikka comes in the wake of questions raised by Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy about the sizeable pay packets offered to Mr. Sikka and Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao.
Mr. Rao received a compensation of ₹11.8 crore, as against ₹8.14 crore, which included fixed pay, bonus and incentives, time based stock incentives.
The time and performance-based stock incentives would vest over a period of four years.
Other senior leaders like the Chief Financial Officer M D Ranganath, Ravi Kumar, Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dadlani and Krishnamurthy Shankar also witnessed increases in their total compensation primarily due to the performance-based stock incentives granted.
The annual report showed that more than 50 executives received annual compensation in excess of ₹1.02 crore.
Stakeholders’ panel
To address concerns raised by stakeholders, the board has adopted a new charter for its Stakeholders and Relationship Committee.
The new charter, adopted at the committee meeting held on January 12, 2017, tasks the committee “to assist the board and the company to oversee the existing redressal mechanism in relation to the stakeholders of the company.”
“The term stakeholder shall include shareholders, debenture holders, other security holders, vendors, customers, other persons and employees,” according to the revised charter.
The stakeholders’committee has four board members: Jeffrey S Lehman as the Chairperson, and John W Etchemendy, D. N. Prahlad and Ravi Venkatesan as its members.
