India’s one of the richest men, Mukesh Ambani has dragged nothing from his flagship Reliance Industries for two consecutive years. In the last fiscal, he voluntarily dropped his remuneration being aware of the Covid 19 pandemic hitting the business and the economy. In the company’s latest annual report, it is revealed that Ambani’s remuneration for fiscal 2020-21 is nil.
In June 2020, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani decided to give up his salary for the financial year 2020-21. He decided this due to the huge impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the societal, economic, and industrial health of the nation. He continued to sacrifice his salary for the year 2021-22.
Ambani did not claim any allowances, employee benefits, retiral benefits, stock options, or Commission from the company in both these years, for his role as Chairman and Managing Director.
Further, He had limited his salary for the post of Chairman and Managing Director to Rs. 15 crores since 2008 to set a personal example of self-discipline in managerial compensation level. His salary was Rs 15 crores in 2019-20 same as in the previous 11 years. Ambani has restricted his salary to Rs 15 crores since 2008-09 giving up over Rs 24 crores per annum.
In June 2020, the company said in a statement that in the light of the Covid 19 outbreak in India which has imposed huge dues on the social, industrial, and economical health of the country. The Managing Director and Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh D Ambani has decided to forgo his remuneration.
However, the remuneration of his cousins Nikhil and Hital Meswani remained the same which is Rs 24 crores but this time it included a Rs 17.28 crores commission.
The remuneration of Executive directors, PMS Prasad, and Pawan Kumar Kapil fell marginally. Prasad drew Rs 11.89 crore in fiscal 2021-22 which is lower than Rs 11.99 crore in 2020-21. On the other hand, Kapil got Rs 4.22 crore, lower than Rs 4.24 crore in the previous year.
According to the annual reports, the payment of Prasad and Kapil included performance-based incentives for the fiscal year 2020-21 paid in FY 2022-21.
Furthermore, Nita Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani and a non-executive director of the company, earned Rs 5 lakhs as sitting fees and Rs 2 crores commission. She earned Rs 8 lakh sitting fee and a Rs 1.65 crore commission in the previous year.
Along with Ambani, the Reliance Industries Ltd board includes the Meswani brothers, Prasad and Kapil as whole time directors.
Other non-executive directors of the company are Dipak C Jain, Raghunath A Mashelkar, Adil Zainulbhai, Raminder Singh Gujral, and Shumeet Banerji, former SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and former CVC KV Chowdary.
All the independent directors of the company got Rs 2 crores commission. Yasir O Al-Rumayyan who is managing director and a board member of PIF (the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) got Rs 1.40 crores. He was appointed to the board w.e.f. July 19, 2021
