Cognizant Technology Solutions has disclosed in its latest regulatory filing that its Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Kumar, received a total annual compensation of $16.1 million for 2024, marking an 11% increase from the previous year.
In 2023, Kumar’s total compensation stood at $22.6 million, boosted by a significant one-time equity award granted at the time of his appointment as CEO. Excluding that, his 2024 earnings reflect a steady rise driven by performance incentives and stock vesting.
The company clarified, “Kumar’s realised compensation was significantly lower than his target direct compensation primarily because his 2024 PSU (Performance Share Unit) grants are scheduled to vest in the future, subject to performance goals.”
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Kumar’s earnings in 2024 primarily comprised:
Base salary
Annual Cash Incentive (ACI) payout at 107.3% of target
Quarterly vestings of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) totaling approximately $4.49 million
The Cognizant board reaffirmed its confidence in Kumar’s leadership, appreciating the company’s traction under his direction and the strategy laid out to position Cognizant among the top four IT services companies globally by 2027.
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Among the Nasdaq-listed company’s top-paid executives is Jatin Dalal, Cognizant’s CFO and a former Wipro veteran. Dalal’s salary jumped to $750,000 in 2024 from around $60,000 a year earlier, along with a $150,000 bonus. His stock awards surged to $7.7 million from $3.07 million.
Other high earners include:
John Kim, Chief Legal Officer
Surya Gummadi, President of Americas Business
Ganesh Ayyar, President of Intuitive Operations, Automation, and Industry Solutions
Pay ratio narrows
Cognizant’s CEO-to-median employee pay ratio dropped to 378:1 in 2024 from 556:1 the year before, as the median employee salary increased to approximately $44,500 from $40,660.
In his letter to shareholders, Kumar stressed that the future of IT services would be driven by two major forces: AI-powered hyperproductivity and automation, and embedded engineering for intelligent, connected, and autonomous systems.
He highlighted three AI opportunity vectors: Hyperproductivity, Industrialising AI,
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