Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar’s package stood at ₹137 crore — How does it compare with pay of other IT chiefs?

₹137 crore: that was the targeted pay package for Cognizant's CEO in FY24. However, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), Ravi Kumar S earned ₹70 crore.

We take a look at why the realised pay was lower than targeted, the breakdown of his pay package components, and how his salary compares to other chiefs of Indian information technology companies including Infosys, TCS and Wipro.

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar's Pay Package — Details

Reportedly, according to the company filing, Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar's annual pay for FY24 rose to more than ₹70 crore ($8.2 million), up 14 per cent from the previous year's salary.

It, however, noted that the realised compensation was lower than the target compensation of ₹137 crore ($16.1 million) for 2024.

Components breakdown of the ₹137 crore pay package:

• Base salary: ₹10.25 crore ($1.2 million), up 20 per cent year-on-year (YoY), compared to FY23 salary.
• ACI target: ₹20.49 crore ($2.4 million), also up 20 per cent YoY.
• Performance share units (PSUs) worth ₹64 crore ($7.5 million), up 9 per cent YoY.
• Restricted stock units (RSUs) worth ₹42.68 crore ($5 million), also up 9 per cent YoY.

CEO vs Employees: Disparity in Cognizant Pay Ratio

According to a report by NDTV, the ratio of Cognizant's CEO-to-median employee pay in 2024, was at 378:1. The filing showed that Kumar earned 378x more than an average employee in his company.

According to the company, Cognizant’s median employee compensation increased by nearly 10 per cent, decreasing the ratio by 32 per ecnt from 556:1 to 378:1. 

Till December 2024, Cognizant had around 3,36,800 global employees, including 2,41,500 in India and another 42,800 in North America.

CEO vs CEOs: Compare Ravi Kumar Salary to Other IT Chiefs?

According to the filing, while Kumar's pay package was ₹137 crore, his realised salary was ₹70 crore because, the PSUs granted this year are only set to vest in the future, subject to the satisfaction of performance criteria.

We take a look at how his salary compares to peer executives at other major Indian IT companies including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, L&T Technologies, and LTIMindtree in FY24.

• Former Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte: Highest paid IT CEO in India, with a whopping ₹166 crore ($20 million) salary, including a ₹92.1 crore severance package in FY24.
• Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys: Earned ₹66 crore, data in the company's annual report showed.
• Debashis Chatterjee, CEO and MD or LTIMindtree: Drew ₹19.34 crore compensation in FY24, up 10 per cent YoY.
• Amit Chadha, CEO and MD, L&T Technology Services: Chief of the L&T subsidiary earned ₹15.4 crore, with pay a 100 per cent YoY pay jump from ₹7.3 crore.
• K Krithivasan, CEO and MD of TCS: Made ₹25.2 crore in FY24.