A 5.2% depreciation in the Indian rupee against the US dollar, coupled with the exercise of a higher number of stock options, took Sandeep Kalra, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Persistent Systems, to a record remuneration of ₹389 crore in FY26, the highest among IT executives in the country.
Kalra, who was reappointed as Executive Director of the company with effect from October 2025, had earned ₹148.09 crore in the previous year, according to data compiled from the company’s annual report. Of the ₹389 crore, perquisites and other payments accounted for 94%, translating to around ₹366 crore.

It is worth noting that the perquisite value represents the benefit arising from the exercise of stock options and does not form part of the executive’s CTC. While his total remuneration, including the perquisite value of stock options exercised during the year, surged 162.4% from FY25, the increase in remuneration excluding these perquisites stood at 44% during the year.
In FY26, Kalra received remuneration from both Persistent Systems and its US subsidiary, Persistent Systems Inc. Meanwhile, the median remuneration of employees at Persistent Systems remained unchanged at ₹16.76 lakh in FY26. The average annual salary increase for employees in India was around 5.8%.

However, after taking into account promotions and other event-based compensation revisions, the overall increase during the year was approximately 6.4%. Employees outside India received a wage increase of about 3.2%. The median remuneration of employees at Persistent Systems Inc.
stood at $0.14 million, equivalent to approximately ₹1.22 crore, in FY26. This figure was considered for computing the remuneration ratio for Executive Directors and Key Managerial Personnel who received remuneration from the US-incorporated subsidiary.

Employee benefit expenses at Persistent Systems, which had 22,135 employees, increased 15.7% to ₹7,950 crore in FY26. The company reported a net profit of ₹1,865 crore, up 33.2% from the previous year, while revenue increased 23.5% to ₹14,748 crore. At its 35th AGM, held in July 2025, the company had sought shareholders’ approval to increase the overall managerial remuneration limit from 11% to 23%.
It had also sought approval to pay remuneration to Sandeep Kalra in excess of 5% but not exceeding 21% of the company’s profits.