Kalanithi Maran and his wife Kaveri Kalanithi, promoters of Sun TV Network Ltd, were the highest paid corporate executives in India for the third year in a row.
They took home a salary of ₹ 122 crore ( ₹ 61 crore each) in the year ended 31 March.
Their salary rose 2% from the previous year despite the profit of the media company being the same at ₹ 1,434 crore.
Onkar S. Kanwar, chairman and managing director of Apollo Tyres Ltd, climbed to the third position in 2014-15 from ninth last year.
Kanwar’s salary was ₹ 42 crore, a 32% annual increase. The company’s profit jumped 45% in the year ended 31 March.
Pawan Munjal, chairman and chief executive officers of Hero Motocorp Ltd, took the sharpest salary cut of 88% at ₹ 4.4 crore.
The company’s profit rose 13% to ₹ 2,386 crore in the year ended 31 March.
The cut pushed Munjal to the 139th position in 2014-15 from third in the previous year.
Lupin Ltd’s chairman Desh Bandhu Gupta retained the fourth position by earning a salary of ₹ 37 crore, the same as last year.
Jay Dev Galla, vice-chairman and managing director of Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, was the only newcomer among the top five.
Galla earned a salary of ₹ 34 crore.
A managing director may be paid remuneration either by way of a monthly payment or a specified percentage of net profit of a company, according to India’s companies law.
Such remuneration cannot exceed 10% (for all such directors) of the net profit of the firm except with the approval of the central government.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, earned ₹ 15 crore, which was less than 1% of his company’s profit.
Despite his salary remaining the same, Ambani moved up five notches to the 21st rank from the previous year.
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