The highest paid CEO in the private sector in India is L&T’s A M Naik at Rs 66.14 crore, while Infosys’ Vishal Sikka get Rs 48.73 crore a year.
An analysis of the CEO salaries for 2015-16 disclosed by the country’s top listed companies, forming part of the stock market benchmark index Sensex, shows that they paid an average overall remuneration of close to Rs 19 crore to their top executives.
This includes salary, commissions, allowances, value of all perquisites and ESOPs exercised during the year, among other benefits disclosed by the companies as part of the total remuneration to their top-paid executives which included executive chairpersons, CEOs or managing directors.
For the latest fiscal, RIL’s Mukesh Ambani got Rs 15 crore as its chairperson and managing director.
At Bajaj Auto, chairperson Rahul Bajaj was paid Rs 11.3 crore, while son Rajiv Bajaj got Rs 22.32 crore as its MD.
In case of Bharti Airtel, chairperson Sunil Mittal’s total remuneration was Rs 27.8 crore.
Though impressive, their salaries are far lower than what American counterparts make. Chief Executive Officers salaries at the top listed companies in the US receive close to USD 20 million (about Rs 132 crore), over six times than average salaries of Indian CEOs.