For the fifth year in a row, Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has chosen to draw no salary for the financial year 2024–25 (FY25). According to the company’s latest annual report, Ambani continued the voluntary decision he made during the COVID-19 pandemic to waive his compensation entirely including salary, allowances and performance-linked incentives. The 67-year-old has not taken any remuneration since FY21. Between FY09 and FY20, Ambani had willingly capped his annual compensation at Rs 15 crore.
While Amani has waived off compensations entirely, dividends remain his main source of earnings. He personally holds 1.61 crore shares in Reliance, which earned him Rs 8.85 crore in dividend income for FY25, based on the Rs 5.50 per share dividend declared by the company, PTI reported.
How much did Ambani’s children earn?
Meanwhile, his three children — Isha Ambani Piramal, Akash and Anant Ambani — who joined the RIL board as non-executive directors in October 2023, each earned Rs 2.31 crore for FY25. This included Rs 6 lakh in sitting fees and Rs 2.25 crore in commission, the annual report stated. Their earnings rose from Rs 1.01 crore received in FY24.
How much did the others earn?
Executive directors Nikhil R Meswani and Hital R Meswani were each paid Rs 25 crore in FY25. This amount included Rs 7.28 crore in salary and perquisites, Rs 44 lakh in retiral benefits, and Rs 17.28 crore in commission. Director PMS Prasad earned Rs 19.96 crore, with Rs 19.37 crore as salary and perquisites and Rs 59 lakh in retiral benefits.
Nita Ambani, who stepped down from the board in August 2023, was paid Rs 2 lakh in sitting fees and Rs 97 lakh in commission for FY24. She does not feature in the FY25 compensation list.
Despite Ambani drawing no salary, the Ambani family, which holds a 50.33% stake in RIL, continues to earn substantial dividend income. For FY24, Reliance declared a Rs 10 per share dividend, translating to Rs 3,322.7 crore for the family based on their 332.27 crore shares.
Reliance’s filing reiterated that security expenses for Ambani and his family will be borne by the company and not treated as perquisites.