The top executives of Indian companies appear to be offered less remuneration than MNC's, even after the companies are listed in BSE top 100 list.
According to an analysis by Mint, Chief Executive Officers of Cummins India, Shriram Transport Finance and Federal Bank were among the least paid bosses at ₹24.5 lakh, ₹48.17 lakh and ₹84.99 lakh per annum, respectively. However, the top executives who were also the companies' promoters were not included in the list.
- Cummins India's chairman and managing director Anant J Talaulicar earned around ₹24.5 lakh in FY 2014, which is said to the least remuneration. Cummins is a corporation that designs, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies.
- Shriram Transport Finance's Managing director Umesh Revankar is the second least paid executive with an annual remuneration of ₹48.17 lakh in the financial year ended in March 2014.
- Federal Bank's MD Shyam Srinivasan is in the third position who had an annual salary of ₹84.99 lakh.
Of the 20 lowest paid CEOs, about 25% of them were from banks and financial institutions. Ironically, chief executives of banks earn the highest compensation all over.
In 2012, The Reserve Bank of India published the guidelines on compensation of whole time directors and chief executive officers. The report said that the policy should cover all areas of compensation structure such as fixed pay, stock, pension plan and so on. The report also added that variable pay should not exceed 70% of the fixed pay in a year.
"If you add the long-term incentives paid to bank executives, their compensation levels improve sharply to take them to the top bracket of pay in the country. About 70% of companies have long-term incentives by way of employee stock options or restricted stock units," Anandorup Ghose, consulting practice leader at Aon Hewitt told Mint.
Among the 100 companies included in the survey, salaries of top executives in India ranges from ₹24 lakh to ₹30 crore.
Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka, who was appointed in mid June this year, has been offered $5.08 million (₹30 crore) with an additional stock options worth $2 million as an annual compensation. Currently, he is the highest paid CEO of an Indian company.
Besides Cummins, Shriram Transport Finance and Federal Bank, names of seven other companies with least paid remuneration to top executives are Sesa Sterlite, Ashok Leyland, Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, Tata Global Beverages, M & M Financials and ABB India.
