On 23 July 2026, Infosys’s board named Ashiss Kumar Dash chief executive designate, to succeed Salil Parekh on 1 April 2027 for five years, subject to the approval of shareholders. The most recent annual report shows how the outgoing chief executive’s pay is put together. It printed ₹82.60 crore as Salil Parekh’s pay for 2025-26. Of that, ₹50.75 crore came from exercising 2,72,400 restricted stock units under the company’s 2015 plan and 64,690 under its 2019 plan.
The rest was ₹8.50 crore of fixed pay, made up of ₹7.97 crore in base salary and ₹0.53 crore in retirement benefits, and ₹23.35 crore in bonus and variable pay. The report adds that Parekh “receives remuneration only from Infosys Limited and not from any subsidiary or group company”.
Counted when exercised, not when granted
A footnote to the remuneration table sets out the rule behind the number. Pay includes “the perquisite value of stock incentives exercised during the period, determined in accordance with the provisions of Income-tax Act, 1961”, and “the value of stock incentives granted during the period is not included”. The ₹50.75 crore therefore relates to units granted in earlier years and exercised in this one. Units granted during 2025-26 would appear in the figure for whichever year they are exercised.
The same table records that the chairman, Nandan Nilekani, “voluntarily chose not to receive any remuneration” for his services.
How other boards count it
Not every Nifty 50 company puts exercised options in its headline figure. Bharti Airtel printed ₹217,291,098 for Gopal Vittal and noted separately that it excludes ₹802,270,354 from options he exercised during the year. ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank also keep them out. Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra include them, as Infosys does.
The handover
Parekh’s second term runs to 31 March 2027. The chairman, Nandan Nilekani, said when announcing the choice that Parekh would “work closely with Dash to ensure a seamless leadership transition”. Our profile of Ashiss Kumar Dash covers the career behind the board’s choice, and Parekh’s row sits with every other Nifty 50 chief executive’s pay.
Sources
- Infosys, Annual Report 2026, remuneration to directors in fiscal 2026 and notes
- Infosys, press release, Infosys Board Appoints Ashiss Kumar Dash as CEO Designate, 23 July 2026
- Bharti Airtel, Integrated Report and Annual Financial Statements 2025-26, directors’ remuneration, note 4
- ICICI Bank, Annual Report 2025-26, remuneration paid to executive directors
- Kotak Mahindra Bank, Report on Corporate Governance 2025-26
- Larsen & Toubro, Integrated Annual Report 2025-26, Annexure D
- Mahindra & Mahindra, Annual Report 2025-26, remuneration to the whole-time directors
