Even dwindling profits can't stop honchos' hog

The average remuneration paid to the top management executives and board members rose to nearly Rs 2 lakh a month during 2008-09 from about Rs 1 lakh during previous fiscal.

At the same time, the number of companies paying an annual remuneration in excess of Rs 1 crore also seems to have doubled during the fiscal, according to an analysis of top-management payouts during the past two years.

During 2008-09, one in every three companies paid more than Rs 1 crore to one or more of its top management executives or directors. The ratio was much wider at one in seven during the previous fiscal 2007-08.

The surge in the prevalence of ‘crorepati’ executives as also average top-management remuneration among Indian firms comes in the midst of the annual profit dipping substantially for a large number of companies as also large-scale layoffs, pay cuts or lesser pay hikes announced by the companies as a result of the global economic downturn.

So far, 285 companies have released their latest fiscal annual reports disclosing the payout for top-management and directors, out of which 76 companies have paid annual remuneration in excess of Rs 1 crore to one or more of their top-management executives.

Press Trust of India