The Hindu Business Line : Tier II cos’ top honchos take home less

At top tier firms such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro, the average salary growth ranged between 23 and 58 per cent while in companies such as MindTree, Hexaware and Sonata Software, it ranged between 11 and 20 per cent.

Our Bureau

Bangalore, July 1 Salaries of senior executives in smaller IT firms grew at a slower pace than that of their counterparts in top tier firms in fiscal 2009 over the previous year. Information disclosed by firms such as MindTree Consulting, Sonata Software and Hexaware Technologies as part of their annual reports reveals that the average salary growth of top officials ranged between 11 and 20 per cent, closer to the industry wage inflation of 9-12 per cent for the year.

At MindTree, the average growth in salaries of top five officials, majority of whom are promoters, stood at 15 per cent for fiscal year 2009. The Chief Financial Officer, Mr Rostow Ravanan’s pay packet saw the highest growth of 35 per cent at Rs 34.28 lakh, followed by that of the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Krishnakumar Natarajan’s at 33 per cent at Rs 48 lakh.

The Chairman, Mr Ashok Soota, got a 14 per cent hike, while the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Subroto Bagchi, who relocated back to India from the US during the year, saw his pay packet thin 28 per cent to Rs 64 lakh.

At Sonata Software, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr B. Ramaswamy’s package grew by eight per cent to Rs 1.3 crore, while the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Srikar Reddy, drew 34 per cent more at Rs 95.98 lakh.

At Hexaware, the Executive Chairman, Mr Atul Nishar’s pay packet grew 12 per cent to Rs 56.82 lakh, while the President and Executive Director, P. K. Sridharan’s rose four per cent to Rs 74.38 lakh. The Executive Vice-President, Mr R. V. Ramanan, saw the highest growth at 15.4 per cent to Rs 76.76 lakh, while the Chief People Officer, Mr Deependra Chumble’s improved 14 per cent to Rs 74 lakh.

However, at top tier firms such as TCS and Infosys, the average salary growth ranged between 23 and 58 per cent. At Wipro, top executives got an average rise of 23 per cent. At Infosys, it was as high as 58 per cent. The Infosys CFO, Mr V. Balakrishnan’s salary grew 274 per cent to Rs 2.36 crore. At TCS, the average pay packet growth of top four officials stood at 32 per cent. “With stock options losing charm, the management salaries at top tier firms are seeing a correction,” said Mr Kris Laxmikanth, CEO of The Head Hunters India.

At the same time, senior officials at smaller firms, who are largely promoters, are more interested in the overall performance of the company, which in turn reflects on the share price and the market cap, he added.

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