Premji's salary fell 63% as Wipro saw drop in profits

Wipro saw profits drop by 4.69% to Rs 8,514 cr on revenues of Rs 55,418 cr in FY17

Wipro chairman Azim Premji took home 63 per cent less compensation in the financial year 2016-17 (FY17) as India’s third-largest software exporter saw a slowdown in profits due to changes in the business environment and technology.

Premji earned a compensation of $108,026 (around Rs 71.4 lakh) in FY17, down from $292,991 (Rs 1.93 crore) in the year before, according to the company’s annual filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The compensation does not include long-term benefits, such as provident fund and pension.

“Azim Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.5 per cent on incremental net profit of Wipro Limited for financial year 2017 over the previous year... For the year ended March 2017, commission paid to Premji is nil,” it said.

Wipro saw its profits drop by 4.69 per cent to Rs 8,514 crore on revenues of Rs 55,418 crore, which jumped 7.34 per cent. In dollar terms, Wipro’s revenue grew 4.9 per cent to $7.7 billion.'

Recently, Vishal Sikka, chief executive of Infosys, also saw his variable salary component drop by half after the company slipped on growth targets in the year.

Premji, who owns 73.25 per cent stake in Wipro, is the only executive who earns a commission on profits. All other executives receive 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.

Rishad Premji, Azim Premji’s son and chief strategy officer at Wipro, saw his salary drop by nearly a quarter to $233,479 (around Rs 1.54 crore), as against $3,03,198 (around Rs 2 crore) in FY16.

Chief executive Abidali Neemuchwala, who was elevated to the top job in February 2016, saw his compensation increase by 5.3 per cent to $2.08 million (around Rs 13.7 crore) as against $1.97 million the previous year. He was hired as chief operating officer from larger rival Tata Consultancy Services.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters