On Friday, Infosys issued a statement that its new non-executive chairman and non-independent director Nandan Nilekani will not be taking any salary for his new role in the company which he has taken up after Vishal Sikka, the first non-founder CEO, quit the company.
Nandan holds 0.93% stake in the company as he comes under the promoter category. This is what Infosys, the second-largest IT firm of India, said about Nandan’s salary in a filing to BSE,
“His last drawn remuneration for fiscal 2010 in which he ceased to be a director was Rs. 34 lakhs.”
The company also made it clear in the same letter that UB Pravin Rao will continue as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and his salary will remain the same which was approved by the shareholders through postal ballot conducted on March 31, 2017. However, it was also cleared that nothing extra will be paid to him for his role as the Interim-Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.
Earlier, the IT firm made headlines for giving unusual hike to its top executives and Rao got a hike of 33% in annual package while former CFO Rajiv Bansal got Rs. 12 crore as severance pay. These two decisions were taken when Vishal Sikka was the CEO and the founder members were not at all happy with both these decisions.
NR Murthy said this on the matter of hike given to Rao,
“The impact of such a decision (compensation hike) is likely to erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board.”
Former Board member Mohandas Pai called the money given to Rajiv Bansal for leaving the company as “hush money” and questioned the objective of paying him so much.
Nandan has made an entry after Vishal Sikka gave in his papers and alleged that he was being personally attacked. Nandan’s priority is to find the next CEO for the company who can handle the responsibility efficiently and manage the implementation of strategies in proper manner. Nandan, whose entry has increased the stock prices of Infosys, said that Egon Zehnder, the recruitment firm, will be helping in finding the new CEO for Infosys.