Megastar Amitabh Bachchan earns in crores through films and brand endorsements, but his remuneration as a director in a listed company is peanuts — just Rs 2,500 for a full year.

In contrast, Amar Singh (a Samajwadi Party leader) received  a whopping amount of Rs 32.10 lakh for 2006-07 from the same company that the Big B is attached to.

The only difference here is that Mr Singh is the promoter and executive chairman of BSE-listed Energy Development Co Ltd (EDCL), while Mr Bachchan is a non-executive director.

Holding worth 18 cr

However, Bachchan’s holding in the company is worth over Rs 18 crore, against about shares worth Rs 9 crore with Amar Singh and his wife, Pankaja Kumari Singh.

Mrs Singh, also a promoter, earned Rs 10,000 as a director in the same company. EDCL is a power generation company with its registered office in Kodagu, Karnataka.

The company listed its shares on the NSE last Friday. It is already listed on the BSE as well as Calcutta and Bangalore Stock Exchanges.

This is perhaps the first remuneration received by Bachchan for corporate duties.  Though he held the position of chairman at a company founded by him — Amitabh Bachchan Corp Ltd, he did not draw any salary from it.

According to information available with the stock exchanges, Bachchan used to be among the promoters of EDCL between June 2005 and March 2006. His name has been moved out of the promoter group since then.

Bachchan holds 10 lakh shares, a 3.64 per cent stake, while Singh and his wife hold 2,50,001 shares or 0.91 per cent stake each. According to available data, this is the only company where the super star holds shares. 

Amar Singh received Rs 32 lakh as salary and allowances and an additional amount of Rs 10,000 as sitting fees.  This includes payment made to directors for attending meetings of board committees.The entire payment of Rs 2,500 to Bachchan and of Rs 10,000 to Singh’s wife was under the head of sitting fees.