Pathamadai Balachandran Balaji of Tata Motors became the highest paid chief financial officer (CFO) within the Tata Group during FY23 after steering an economic turnaround of the automotive business last year for the $128 billion Mumbai-based conglomerate.
Balaji, who joined the company in 2017, took home Rs 16.73 crore in remuneration during FY23, and was the highest paid employee at Tata Motors in the same year. His pay package was 31% more than his FY22 package of Rs 12.73 crore.
Tata group’s generous payout to Balaji reflects the reversal in fortune of Tata Motors, which was riddled with continuous losses. The maker of trucks, buses and cars, and luxury vehicles under Jaguar Land Rover, recorded its first full year profit in eight years in FY23. It also paid a dividend for the first time in as many years.
Among other targets, Balaji has committed to get net automotive debt of the company close to zero before the end of FY25.
Balaji’s climb to the top spot within the group can also be attributed to the marginal decline in the remuneration of Koushik Chatterjee, executive director and CFO, Tata Steel. Chatterjee, the highest paid CFO in the group in FY22, took home a remuneration of Rs 14.21 crore in FY23, a decline of 6% compared to Rs 15.17 crore posted in FY22. Profit after tax of Tata Steel slumped to a fifth during FY23 as against FY22.
The Tata group has 28 listed companies on the stock exchanges. Its top performer, Tata Consultancy Services, has not shared the remuneration of its CFO Samir Seksaria. An email sent to the company in this regard remained unanswered.
While Balaji made it to the top spot, Giridhar Sanjivi, CFO of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), logged the highest increase in remuneration within the group. Following a return to profit after a gap of three years, IHCL — the owner of the Taj brand of luxury hotels — rewarded Sanjivi with a 34% increase in salary to Rs 4.35 crore in FY23 compared to FY22.
Salary of Tata Sons CFO Eruch Kapadia for FY23 has not been disclosed yet since Tata Sons is yet to share its annual report for the year. His FY22 salary stood at Rs 2.62 crore.
Tata group has lined up investments of $90 billion over the next five years across its existing and new businesses. The new sectors include electric vehicles, aviation battery cell manufacturing, renewable energy, robotics and electronics and possibly semiconductors.
British brands JLR will see a capital expenditure of £15 billion over the next five years while Tata Power, one India’s largest private sector energy companies, will spend Rs 75,000 crore in five years starting FY23. Air India, the country’s third largest airline, has placed orders for 470 aircraft worth around $70 billion.
