The austerity bug seems to have bitten the idiot-box as Ekta Kapoor, the star TV content producer, as also her father Jeetendra and mother Shobha Kapoor, have taken a big pay cut at Balaji Telefilms.
The total remuneration to the three fell by about Rs 3.8 crore to Rs 5.6 crore in the last fiscal year at Balaji Telefilms, which incidentally took a hit to the tune of over Rs 27 crore because of their much-hyped serial based on epic tale of Mahabharat biting the dust.
The company had built a costly set exclusively for the serial, which was expected to run for at least three years, but it went off air and Balaji was forced to depreciate the entire set value owing to the fact that the set had a periodic feel and could not have been used for any other serial.
"This resulted in an additional loss of Rs 9.5312 crore. Related to this is also the provision made for bad debts of Rs 18.1638 crore due to doubtful recovery of debts from the broadcaster (TV channel)," Balaji Chairman Jeetendra told the company's shareholders in its annual report 2008-09.
"It has been a trying fiscal for all industry players and Balaji has not remained untouched from the heat of global economic meltdown," Jeetendra said further.
The total employee cost, including managerial pay, for the company known for its family dramas and the 'saas-bahu' serials, fell from Rs 13.6 crore to Rs 13.2 crore.
While the company did not blame it on the economic slowdown, the remuneration for Chairman Jeetendra Kapoor as also for Managing Director Shobha Kapoor and Creative Director Ekta Kapoor fell drastically during the year.
While Jeetendra's total remuneration more than halved from Rs 1.03 crore in the previous fiscal to about Rs 44.7 lakh, that of Ekta Kapoor fell from Rs 4.22 crore to Rs 2.69 crore and Shobha Kapoor's from Rs 4.16 crore to Rs 2.47 crore.
Their collective remuneration fell by nearly 40 per cent from Rs 9.42 crore to Rs 5.61 crore during the year.
Another family member Tusshar Kapoor, Ekta's brother and a film star, was also paid sitting fees of Rs 60,000 at the company, where he had been a director, but ceased to be so with effect from August 25, 2008.
Jeetendra was paid Rs 43.84 lakh in commission and Rs 90,000 as sitting fees. Ekta Kapoor was paid Rs Rs 66.3 lakh as salary, Rs 58.05 lakh as perquisites and Rs 1.37 crore as commission, while MD Shobha Kapoor got Rs 55.2 lakh as salary, Rs 48.3 lakh as perquisites and Rs 1.37 crore as commission.
In related party transactions, the company paid Rs 22.46 lakh to Jeetendra, Rs 3.15 crore to Shobha Kapoor and Rs 5.09 lakh to Tusshar Kapoor towards rent during the year.
Besides, the four family members were paid over Rs 9 crore as dividend during the year. The company's balance sheet mentioned as receivables totalling Rs 7.46 crore as on March 31, 2009 from Jeetendra, Shobha Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor — for deposits paid for lease properties.
