Wipro chairman Rishad Premji's compensation down 50% as profits fall

Company filing says 'no commission payable for fiscal year'; CEO and CFO take cuts too

Wipro chairman Rishad Premji saw his total compensation in FY23 fall almost 50 per cent year-on year (YoY) after he had to forgo commission (variable pay) due to falling profits at the IT services firm.

Premji’s total compensation for FY23 was $951,353, down from $1,819,022 in FY22, according to a Wipro filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Rishad A Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.35% on incremental consolidated net profits of Wipro Limited over the previous fiscal year. However, in light of the fact that the incremental consolidated net profits for fiscal year 2023 was negative, the Company determined that no commission was payable for fiscal year 2023 to Mr. Rishad A. Premji,” said the company.

Premji received $861,620 as salary and allowances, $15,390 in other income, and $74,343 as long-term compensation in FY23.

Salary and allowances were down 23 per cent from $1,119,362 in FY22.

This is not the first time that Premji has had to cut his compensation. In FY20, his compensation was cut by almost 31 per cent after the onset of Covid-19 hit Wipro’s operations.

Wipro reported a net profit of Rs 3,074 crore for FY23, down 0.4 per cent YoY. The company’s senior management has taken cuts too.

Jatin Dalal, Wipro’s chief financial officer, took a total compensation of $1,084,693 in FY23, almost a 32 per cent cut compared to $1,591,142 in FY22.

Wipro’s Thierry Delaporte continued to be the highest paid CEO in India, getting a total compensation of $10,026,942 in FY23. That was down almost 5 per cent from FY22 $10,519,174.