The country’s cement leader, UltraTech Cement’s Chairman and Non-Executive Director Kumar Mangalam Birla enjoyed an annual salary of Rs 19.13 crore, last financial year 2017-18. This year his annual remuneration decreased by 18.82% as compared to his salary last year, hitting Rs 15.53 crore, even after the company recorded it a double-digit growth in its work.
While around most of the companies in different sectors, the remuneration of directors are fluctuating from time to time, i.e., increasing or decreasing, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s yearly salary has remained unchanged since 11 consecutive years, staying put at Rs 15 crore. Not just this, Reliance Industries’ other whole-time directors’ remuneration has shown an increase.
UltraTech Director’s Salary Reduces to Make Room for Increase in Employees’ Remunerations
Since the last two years, UltraTech’s Chairman, Birla has been receiving a lesser amount of yearly salary. His salary this FY was Rs 15.53 crore, while in the FY 2017-18 was Rs 19.13 crore. He had received a sum of Rs 22.50 crore in the FY 2016-17.
It turns out that his salary cut has compensated an increase in the salaries of the employees of the company. The median remuneration of employees this was Rs 7.65 lakh, which is an 8.85% increase in the median remuneration of employees. Even the Managing Director of UltraTech, K K Maheshwari bagged a salary of Rs 12.96 crore, which was 4.76% lesser than his usual annual pay, in the last fiscal year.
Despite a reduction in Birla’s annual income, his salary still remains 202.9 times higher than that of the employees. It was 387.9 times higher in FY 2016-17 and 375.2 times in FY 2017-18, compared to that of the employees.
With a permanent employee base of 19,557, UltraTech has 21 integrated plants in 2019 with an installed capacity of 102.8 MTPA. Its net turnover last FY was Rs 36,775 crore and profit after tax was Rs 2,432 crore.
Ambani’s Salary Remains Constant for 11 Years!
While all the directors of Reliance industries enjoyed a salary boost, Mukesh Ambani’s annual salary has remained unchanged since the past 11 years at Rs 15 crore. It is said that through his constant salary cap, Ambani wishes to set an example of moderation in managerial compensation levels.
Executive directors of RIL, Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani, both had a remuneration of Rs 19.99 crore in FY 18 and took home Rs 20.87 crore in FY 18-19. The executive director, PMS Prasad’s salary increased from Rs 8.89 crore last year to Rs 10.01 crore this year. Another exec director’s salary too saw an increase to Rs 4.17 crore from Rs 3.47 crore a year before.
Despite Ambani’s constant salary, he is fully in a position to pay a huge dividend for his shareholding in the company. As of March 31, 2019, Ambani holds 72.31 lakh shares of the company, while Nita Ambani holds 67.96 lakh shares of RIL valuing to Rs 849 crore at the current market price.