Covid-19: L&T Group chairman, directors take voluntary salary cut of up to 53%

Amid Covid-19 pandemic, key officials of engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have taken voluntary pay cut of up to 53 per cent, including a 24.19 per cent salary cut by its group chairman A M Naik, according to the company’s annual report.

Naik drew a total remuneration of ₹6.18 crore for 2019-20 as against ₹8.15 crore in 2018-19, according to the annual report of the infrastructure giant.

L&T Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director S N Subrahmanyan took home ₹27.17 crore for 2019-20, showing a pay cut of 43.91 per cent.

“Reduction in managerial remuneration is mainly due to cost reduction measures voluntarily adopted by Executive Directors in the current pandemic scenario and reduced perquisite value,” the report said.

On the other hand the average percentage increase made in the salaries of employees other than the managerial personnel for the year 2019-20 was 4.70 per cent.

“Considering the impact of Covid-19 on the business, the Executive Directors have taken a voluntary reduction of 50 per cent on the entitled commission,” the report said.

Whole-time Director & Chief Financial Officer R Shankar Raman saw a pay cut of 47.33 per cent to ₹13.20 crore while Whole-time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Power) Shailendra Roy witnessed a salary cut of 53.01 per cent to ₹6.63 crore during 2019-20.

Likewise Whole-time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Infrastructure) DK Sen saw a 36.15 per cent dip in salary to ₹4.46 crore, Whole-time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings, Minerals & Metals) MV Satish saw a 38.41 per cent decline to ₹5.77 crore. Annual salary of Whole-time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Defence & Smart Technologies) J D Patil fell by 38.91 per cent to ₹5.08 crore.

Naik in the annual report said this is the opportune moment to minimise external dependencies as the world is witnessing groundswell of opinion against China and seeking viable alternative supply sources.

He urged the government to introduce much-needed reforms in land acquisition, competency & skill building to achieve desired outcomes under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’

Naik said he was addressing the shareholders at a time when the nation is grappling with a global pandemic, while simultaneously gearing itself for a phased reopening of the economy, and preparing for life beyond Covid-19.

.

L&T, at the group level, contributed ₹150 crore for the PM CARES fund in FY 2019-20, and further donated medical equipment, including personnel protective equipment worth ₹40 crore to states across the country.