'IT top brass like politicians who hike their salaries'

Two IT employee groups have flayed the steep hike in compensation awarded to top executives of Infosys, terming the move by the software giant as "painful" amid job losses in the industry.

According to the 2017 annual report of Infosys that was published on the company's website, payouts of at least four Infosys executives have increased by over 50 per cent in the previous fiscal year.

"Year-after-year, the IT companies remove and sack professionals and simultaneously hike their top executives' salaries in the name of fancied compensation based on variable pay and stock incentives," FITE general secretary AJ Vinod told PTI.

"They are just like the politicians who hike their salaries, without being concerned about people's problems, including job losses. It is painful," Vinod said.

The FITE is a forum of IT employees and has presence in nine IT hubs, including Chennai, Pune and Bengaluru.

The New Democratic Labour Front’s legal advisor Suresh said that top executives of companies, including Infosys, should understand that the hike they are getting is only possible because of the employees who put in 10 to 12 hours work.

According to Infosys's annual report, presidents Rajesh Murthy, Sandeep Dadlani, Mohit Joshi and deputy chief operating officer Ravi Kumar received a total compensation of over Rs 14 crore. The hike was in the form of performance-based stock incentives.

"When you give 10 or 20 per cent hike to top executives, it drains out a lot of money from the purses of the companies, which compels them to take the measure of sacking professionals," the FITE said.