For the second year in a row, India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani took home less pay than his top two lieutenants, as he stuck to a 2009 pledge freezing his pay at Rs15 crore.
Ambani’s cousins and RIL executive directors Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani earned Rs19.9 crore each in the financial year 2017-18, while Ambani’s salary remained unchanged, according to the annual report of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). In 2016-17, the Meswanis had earned an annual pay of Rs16.58 crore each.
“The compensation of Mukesh Ambani has been set at ₹15 crore, reflecting his desire to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels,” RIL said in its annual report for 2017-18.
Till 2007-08, Ambani was the top-paid executive in India with an annual compensation package of Rs44 crore.
Ambani, chairman of RIL, has a net worth of $40.1 billion.
He was ranked 19th globally in Forbes 2018 ‘World’s Billionaires’ list, up from the 33rd position in 2017.
Ambani’s take-home pay for 2017-18 includes perquisites, allowances and commissions. His base salary and allowances saw an increase of Rs4.49 crore while the commission on profit marginally rose to Rs9.53 crore. Perquisites earned were down from Rs60 lakh in 2016-17 to Rs27 lakh in 2017-18 and retiral benefits stood unchanged at Rs71 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}Ambani’s take-home pay for 2017-18 includes perquisites, allowances and commissions. His base salary and allowances saw an increase of Rs4.49 crore while the commission on profit marginally rose to Rs9.53 crore. Perquisites earned were down from Rs60 lakh in 2016-17 to Rs27 lakh in 2017-18 and retiral benefits stood unchanged at Rs71 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani earned ₹5.27 and ₹5.26 crore, respectively, in 2017-18 as part of salary and allowances while commission payable wasRs14.40 crore each. Retiral benefits stood at Rs29 lakh each. Nikhil Meswani’s perquisites added up toRs3 lakh while that of Hital Meswani’s was Rs4 lakh.
Ambani’s wife Nita Ambani, who joined the RIL board as a non-executive director in 2014, earned Rs6 lakh sitting fee and a commission of Rs1.50 crore agains tRs1.35 crore in 2016-17.
Other than Nita Ambani, other non-executive directors include Dipak C. Jain, Mansingh L. Bhakta, Yogendra P. Trivedi, Raminder Singh Gujral, Ashok Misra, Raghunath A. Mashelkar, Adil Zainulbhai and Shumeet Banerji.