The economy may be in the midst of a slowdown but India Inc?s top businessmen are doing well for themselves. Pawan Munjal, MD & CEO, Hero Motocorp, is on top of the pay charts having taken home Rs 37.88 crore last year and close on his heels is Lupin?s Desh Bandhu Gupta, whose pay rose 69% to Rs 37.15 crore last year. Apollo Tyres CMD Onkar Singh Kanwar?s remuneration rose 26% Rs 30.41 crore while Sameer Gehlaut of Indiabulls earned Rs 29.6 crore.
Non-promoter CEOs of course make much less money even if they shoulder greater responsibilities; Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO of ICICI Bank, and Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO of Axis Bank, for instance, drew salaries of Rs 5.23 crore and Rs 3.75 crore, respectively, in FY14, despite their banks? assets having grown smartly to Rs 5.95 lakh crore and Rs 3.83 lakh crore, respectively. TCS’s N Chandrasekaran, however, was rewarded with a 60% jump in remuneration to Rs 18.7 crore.
Debu Bhattacharya, MD of Hindalco Industries, had earned Rs 20.61 crore in FY13 while Larsen & Toubro?s AM Naik, had earned R21.06 crore. Pawan Munjal?s total pay ? comprising basic salary, perquisites and allowances, retirement benefits and commissions ? rose 15.5% in FY14 although the firm?s net profit growth stayed flat.
Promoters of firms such as Sun TV and Bharti Airtel typically earn fabulous amounts and feature among the best paid businesspeople.
Although the Companies Act 2013 allows executive directors to be paid a remuneration of up to 5% of net profits, most firms typically pay between 1 and 2%.
