Although he took a major pay cut this year, Reliance Industries chairman and managing director, Mr Mukesh Ambani, hasn’t done too badly compared to his peers in the global oil industry.
Mr Ambani took home a total of Rs 15 crore last year, says the company’s just released annual report.
This is about one-third of what he had drawn in the previous year — “reflecting his desire to set a personal example for moderation in the managerial compensation levels,” according to the recently released company annual report.
However, this doesn’t compare too unfavourably with the global oil giants.
For instance, the CEO of Exxon Mobil took a total salary of $21.7 million during 2009 while the CEO of British Petroleum, Mr Tony Hayward, drew a more modest $6 million.
Exxon Mobil and BP are global oil giants with turnover and profits many times higher than RIL.
what he may have lost in salary, he has made up for via dividends.
According to the company annual report, RIL has paid out Rs 2,084 crore as dividends during FY10.
The company’s promoters control 44.76 per cent of the shares — netting them Rs 932 crore on this front. This translates to $200 million.
Elsewhere in the report, the company has given details of its gas fields in the Krishna Godavari basin — which started production in 2009.
RIL says that the government has saved close to Rs 4,000 crore in subsidies because of the natural gas being supplied to fertilizer and power plants, instead of more expensive options.
KG-D6 gas field is currently producing at the rate of 80 million cubic meters/day, against the possible capacity of 80 million cu m/day.
Meanwhile, the RIL stock closed up 2.58 per cent on Monday, following the announcement of the new truce with the Anil Ambani group.
Most brokerage houses view the development as positive for Reliance, as it now has the chance to invest excess cash in sectors such as power, infrastructure, telecom and financial services.
“We believe RIL will now pursue power generation in India and will seek coal or uranium mines globally; this may take focus away from oil and gas business,” says brokerage firm HSBC Research in its report on the company.