Wipro chairman took 50% less salary: Rishad Premji got total compensation of ₹7.87 crores in FY-23

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji has taken a total compensation of about $ 1 million, or Rs 7.87 crore, for the financial year ending March 2023. This is almost 50% less than his remuneration of Rs 5.05 crore in the last financial year. This information has been filed by Wipro with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Form 20-F.
This is the second time when Rishad Premji has taken less compensation. Earlier, Rishad Premji had cut his compensation by 31% during the Corona pandemic. Then in the financial year 2019-20, he took a total compensation of $ 0.68 million i.e. Rs 5.62 crore. Earlier in FY 2018-19, he got a compensation of $ 0.98 million i.e. Rs 8.11 crore.
In addition to compensation, Rishad Premji is entitled to commission at the rate of 0.35% on incremental consolidated net profits. However, the company's incremental consolidated net profit for FY2023 was negative, so the company has decided not to pay any commission for FY2023.
Not only Rishad Premji, but Wipro's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jatin Pravinchandra Dalal's compensation has also come down. For the year 2022-23, he has been given a total compensation of Rs 9.10 crore ($1.1 million) compared to Rs 13.24 crore ($1.6 million) last year, which is about 32% less.
In April this year, Wipro announced its results for the fourth quarter and financial year, which were below expectations. Net profit fell 0.4% to Rs 3,074.5 crore in the fourth quarter. The company's profit was Rs 3,087.3 crore in the same quarter a year ago. In the March quarter, revenue grew by 11.17% year-on-year to Rs 23,190.3 crore.
At the same time, in the entire financial year 2022-23, the company's profit fell by 7.1% to Rs 11,350 crore. EBITDA margin was down 200 bps to 15.7% for FY2023 and 16.3% for Q4. The company had also announced a share buyback of Rs 12,000 crore through the tender route.
Rishad Premji's compensation also included a cash bonus (part of his fixed salary), but no stock options were given to him in FY2023. Premji's current 5-year term as the Executive Chairman of Wipro Limited will end on July 30, 2024.
Rishad Premji joined Wipro in 2007 and held multiple roles in the company before becoming the executive chairman in 2019. He started as General Manager in Wipro's Banking & Financial Services business, leading Investor Relations, and then went on to lead Wipro's strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
As Wipro's Chief Strategy Officer, Rishad also conceptualized Wipro Ventures. He also worked on Investor and Government Relations for the company. In his role as Executive Chairman, Rishad works closely with Wipro's leadership team to provide direction and strategy for the business.
Before joining Wipro, Rishad Premji worked at Bain & Company in London. There he worked on assignments in the consumer products, automobile, telecom, and insurance industries. He also worked with GE Capital in the US in the insurance and consumer lending space. He is a graduate of the General Electric Financial Management program.