Billionaire Mukesh Ambani draws nil salary for second year in row

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Mumbai,
Aug
08:
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
the
financial
year
2020-21
was
”nil”.

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.

Mukesh
Ambani
resigns;
Akash
Ambani
appointed
Chairman
Of
Reliance
Jio

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
Rs
15
crore
since
2008-09
in
order
to
set
a
personal
example
of
moderation
in
managerial
compensation
levels.

The
Rs
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
Rs
15
crore
since
2008-09,
forgoing
over
Rs
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.

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

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

Assam
flood
relief:
Mukesh
Ambani,
son
Anant
donate
Rs
25
crore

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

The
payment
of
Prasad
and
Kapil
included
”performance-linked
incentives
for
FY
2020-21
paid
in
FY
2021-22,”
the
annual
report
said.

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

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
Rs
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
Rs
1.40
crore.
He
was
appointed
to
the
board
with
effect
from
July
19,
2021.