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India's corporate gurus have announced their new paychecks—and the numbers are as dramatic as the boardroom battles they fight. While Gautam Adani's pay went up 12% to ₹10.41 crore in FY25, it's dwarfed by pay of his peers, with Infosys CEO Salil Parekh and Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal leaving everyone else in the dust. While India's richest person, Mukesh Ambani, is still in the post-pandemic practice of taking no salary at all.
Key Highlights
Gautam Adani (Chairman, Adani Group)
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Total compensation: ₹10.41 crore in FY25, 12% more than the previous year.
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There were two companies who offered the salary: Adani Enterprises (₹2.26 crore salary + ₹28 lakh allowances) and Adani Ports (₹1.8 crore salary + ₹6.07 crore commission).
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Still earns less than several of the Adani Group managers and is far behind industry comparables.
Salil Parekh (CEO, Infosys)
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Total compensation: ₹80.62 crore in FY25, an increase of 22%.
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Includes ₹49 .5 crore through stock options, ₹7.94 crore in fixed compensation, and ₹23.18 crore in variable compensation.
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Infosys board credits the surge to good company performance and AI expansion.
Sunil Bharti Mittal (Airtel Chairman)
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Total compensation: ₹32.27 crore in FY24, nearly twice the previous year.
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Pay restored after three years of reverse revision on the basis of business performance.
Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries Chairman)
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Remains to forego his salary, working on a zero-salary basis since the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Before 2020, Ambani had limited his salary to ₹15 crore per year.
The Big Picture
Adani's compensation, while higher, remains modest relative to India's other billionaires. Parekh of Infosys tops the list of CEOs, courtesy of a combination of guaranteed pay and highly compensated stock options.
Sunil Mittal's salary bounce back indicates Airtel's better performance, but Ambani's theatrical zero-salary move is still his signature.
Others like L&T's S.N. Subrahmanyan (₹76.25 crore) and Hero MotoCorp's Pawan Munjal (₹109 crore in FY24) leave Adani in the distant rear.
"Despite his vast wealth and control of a titan ports-to-power empire, Adani's compensation is lower than that of some of his most powerful group executives and far more than industry peers."
Source: Fortune India, Trak.in, Moneycontrol, Paycheck.in, Times of India, HR Economic Times, India Today, The Week, Business Standard
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