INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MUMBAI: The Rs 1 crore-plus club of independent directors rose over fourfold to 89 in FY19 from 21 in FY13, according to market tracking
firm Prime Database, as companies sought to attract board members from a dwindling pool of such candidates.
There were 43 independent
directors who earned more than Rs 1 crore from a single company even as the government has been looking to cap their remuneration to ensure
Laboratories, HCL Technologies, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata
Elxsi, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, United Breweries and Wipro.
While higher compensation is believed to impact the independence of directors,
experts said limiting compensation will make it more difficult for companies to attract qualified people when the pool is already shrinking
Bank of India chairman OP Bhatt (on boards of companies including HUL and TCS), former Blackstone Group chief Punita Sinha (JSW Steel,
Infosys), former director general of the Council of Scientific - Industrial Research RA Mashelkar (Reliance Industries, Piramal
Enterprises), former Securities and Exchange Board of India chief M Damodaran (Larsen - Toubro, InterGlobe Aviation) and former McKinsey
partner Ireena Vittal (Housing Development Finance Corp, Tata Global Beverages), according to Prime Database.
The compensation of the 89
directors ranged from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore, according to the data based on 492 of the Nifty 500 companies for which annual reports were
Arun Duggal, chairman of credit rating company ICRA and an experienced independent director
CEOs of companies in FY19 was about Rs 6.5 crore, according to an ET analysis of salaries of CEOs, excluding promoters.
The average
take-home remuneration of independent directors, including sitting fees and commissions, increased 7% to Rs 19.04 lakh in FY19 from Rs 17.83
result, their number has shrunk
law, independent directors can be paid up to Rs 1 lakh as sitting fees per board meeting
Companies have the flexibility to pay more as commission
The total commission paid to independent directors in a company can be as much as 1% of its profit
The data showed that the top 100 directors accounted for as much as 36.47% of the total remuneration paid to independent directors in
