Mukesh Ambani draws nil salary for second year in row

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani for the second year in a row drew no salary from his flagship firm, Reliance Industries in the last fiscal as he voluntarily gave up remuneration in light of the pandemic hitting the business and economy.

In its latest annual report, Reliance said Ambani's remuneration for FY21 was "nil".

Ambani forgoes salary

In June 2020, Mukesh D Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, voluntarily decided to forego his salary for the year 2020-21, in light of the Covid-19 outbreak in India, which exacted a huge toll on the societal, economic, and industrial health of the nation.

He continued to forgo his salary in 2021-22 as well.

In both these years, Ambani did not avail of any allowances, perquisites, retiral benefits, commission, or stock options from Reliance for his role as the Chairman and Managing Director.

Prior to that, the Chairman and Managing Director had his salary capped at ₹15 crore since 2008-09 in order to set a personal example of moderation in managerial compensation levels.

The ₹15 crore salary in 2019-20 was the same as in the previous 11 years.

Ambani has kept salary, perquisites, allowances, and commission together at ₹15 crore since 2008-09, forgoing over ₹24 crore per annum.

"In light of the Covid-19 outbreak in India, which has exacted a huge toll on the societal, economic and industrial health of the nation, Mukesh D Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director, has voluntarily decided to forego his salary," the company had said in June 2020.

Remuneration of family members

The remuneration of his cousins Nikhil and Hital Meswani remained unchanged at ₹24 crore but this time, it included a ₹17.28 crore commission.

Ambani's wife Nita, a non-executive director on the company's board, earned ₹5 lakh as a sitting fee and another ₹2 crore commission for the year. She had, in the previous year, got ₹8 lakh sitting fee and another ₹1.65 crore commission.

Remuneration of other board members

Executive Directors PMS Prasad and Pawan Kumar Kapil saw their remuneration fall marginally.

While Prasad drew ₹11.89 crore in 2021-22, down from ₹11.99 crore in 2020-21, Kapil got ₹4.22 crore, lower than ₹4.24 crore in the previous year.

The payment of Prasad and Kapil included "performance-linked incentives for FY21 paid in FY22," the annual report said.

Apart from Ambani, the RIL board has the Meswani brothers, Prasad, and Kapil as wholetime directors.

Besides Nita Ambani, other non-executive directors include Dipak C Jain, Raghunath A Mashelkar, Adil Zainulbhai, Raminder Singh Gujral, Shumeet Banerji, former SBI chairperson, Arundhati Bhattacharya and former CVC, KV Chowdary.

While all independent directors got a ₹2 crore commission, Yasir O Al-Rumayyan, Managing Director and a Board Member of PIF, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, got ₹1.40 crore. He was appointed to the board with effect from July 19, 2021.

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