Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani draws nil salary for 4th yr in a row

Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani drew nil salary from his oil-to-telecom-and-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries for the fourth straight year in a row while his children earned a sitting fee and a commission for being on the board of India's most valuable company.

Ambani, 67, had capped his annual remuneration at Rs 15 crore from financial year 2008-09 (April 2008 to March 2009) to 2019-20 (FY20); and since FY21, he opted to forego his salary, due to Covid-19 pandemic, until the company and all its businesses were fully back to their earnings potential.

In 2023-24, he got 'nil' as salary, allowances, and perquisites as well as retiral benefits, according to the latest annual report of the company.

 

Ambani, who has been on the board of Reliance since 1977 and was elevated as chairman of the company after the death of his father and group patriarch Dhiburhai Ambani in July 2002, was just last year re-appointed as the head of Reliance for another five-year term till April 2029 - a period during which he opted to draw nil salary.

"He shall, however, be entitled to reimbursement of expenses incurred for travelling, boarding and lodging including for spouse and attendant(s) during business trips and provision of car(s) for use on company's business and communication expenses at residence shall be reimbursed at actuals and not considered as perquisites," the special resolution seeking shareholder nod for his re-appointment had said last year.

"The company shall arrange to provide security to Ambani and his family members and the expenses borne by the company for the same shall not be considered as perquisites."

With a networth of $ 109 billion, Ambani is the 11th richest person in the world.

He and his family own 332.27 crore shares or 50.33 per cent stake in Reliance. This stake would have earned him and his family Rs 3,322.7 crore in dividend income for 2023-24 for which the company had declared a Rs 10 per share dividend.

The remuneration of Ambani's cousins Nikhil and Hital Meswani rose to Rs 25.31 crore and Rs 25.42 crore respectively in 2023-24 from Rs 25 crore each in FY23. This included Rs 17.28 crore commission (unchanged from the previous two fiscal years).

Executive Directors P M S Prasad saw his remuneration rise to Rs 17.93 crore. He drew Rs 13.50 crore in 2022-23 including performance linked incentives for 2021-22 which was paid in 2022-23. In 2021-22, he drew Rs 11.89 crore.

Ambani's wife Nita, who was a non-executive director on the company's board till August 28, 2023, earned Rs 2 lakh as a sitting fee and another Rs 97 lakh commission for 2023-24.

His three children - Isha, Akash and Anant, who were appointed to the board in October last year at nil salary, got Rs 4 lakh each as sitting fee and Rs 97 lakh as commission.

Other non-executive directors include Adil Zainulbhai, Raminder Singh Gujral, Shumeet Banerji, former SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, former CVC K V Chowdary, veteran banker K V Kamath and Saudi sovereign wealth fund nominee Yasir Othman H Al Rumayyan.

While all independent directors got Rs 2.25 crore commission (up from Rs 2 crore in 2022-23) and sitting fee.

Ambani had in June 2020 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 and 2022-23 and now in 2023-24.

In these three 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.