Bengaluru-based tech services giant Infosys on Wednesday announced 'Expanded Stock Ownership Program 2019' as part of a strategy to attract and retain top talent.

"In continuation of the company’s philosophy of aligning employee interests with shareholder value creation and in line with global practices, the board of directors has now approved to issue a new stock incentive plan called Infosys Expanded Stock Ownership Program - 2019," the company said.

The plan proposes to allocate 50 million shares (or 5 crore shares) equating 1.15 percent of the company’s equity shares to a broad base of employees, which will vest on challenging performance criteria.

The 2019 plan shall be effective on and from the date of receipt of approval of the shareholders.

Chief executive officer Salil Parekh, who took over in 2018, will get performance-based stock incentives worth Rs 10 crore in restricted stock units. Also, chief operating officer Pravin Rao will get performance-based stock incentives worth Rs 4 crore in restricted stock units.

"Our employees are our biggest asset, and through this program, we aim to recognize and reward individuals who are committed to driving value creation for all stakeholders through their continued and consistent performance. By making employees owners, they get an opportunity to be beneficiaries in the long term success of the company and realize the results of their work and dedication," Parekh said.

The Infosys Expanded Stock Ownership Program 2019, under which grants will vest based on performance, aims to align employee interest with shareholder value creation, incentivize, attract and retain key talent, and reward employee performance with ownership, the company said.

The grants allocated to employees over a period of seven years will vest based on challenging performance criteria of-relative Total Shareholder Return (TSR) against an industry peer group, relative TSR against domestic and global indices, and operating lead performance metrics such as total revenue and digital revenue growth, and operating margins, it added.

During 2018-19, Infosys added 24,016 employees, taking the total headcount to 2,28,123.

For Q4, Infosys reported a net profit of Rs 4,074 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, a growth of 10 percent year-on-year. Revenues for the quarter rose to Rs 21,539 crore, a growth of 19.1 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter. Infosys margins, however, narrowed to 21.4 percent in the March quarter of FY19, as compared to 24.7 percent in the same quarter of the previous year.

First Published:May 16, 2019 8:19 PM IST