Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has once again chosen to draw no salary from Reliance Industries, the oil-to-telecom-to-retail giant he heads, for the fifth consecutive year. Instead, dividend payouts remain his primary source of income, according to a PTI report.According to the latest annual report of Reliance Industries, Ambani, 68, received ‘nil’ salary, allowances, perquisites, and retiral benefits for the financial year 2024-25 (FY25).Ambani had capped his annual remuneration at Rs 15 crore between from financial year 2009 to 2020.Since FY21, he voluntarily opted to forego his salary due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has continued to do so each year since.Despite not drawing a salary, Ambani, who is currently the 18th richest person in the world with a net worth just under $100 billion, earned Rs 8.85 crore in dividend income from the 1.61 crore shares he directly holds in Reliance. This is based on the Rs 5.50 per share dividend declared by the company for FY25, as reported by PTI.In addition, promoter group firms under Ambani’s control hold 664.5 crore shares, amounting to a 50.07% stake in the company bringing in a combined dividend income of Rs 3,655 crore.The annual report also shed light on the remuneration of other top executives and family members. Ambani’s cousins, Nikhil and Hital Meswani, saw a slight dip in their pay to Rs 25 crore each in FY25, compared to Rs 25.31 crore and Rs 25.42 crore, respectively, in FY24. Their earnings included a commission of Rs 17.28 crore each, unchanged from the past three years, the PTI report said.Executive Director P M S Prasad’s remuneration rose to Rs 19.96 crore in FY25 from Rs 17.93 crore in the previous year. His pay includes performance-linked incentives for FY24, which were disbursed in FY25.Ambani’s three children, Isha, Akash, and Anant, who joined the Reliance board in October 2023 at nil salary, received Rs 6 lakh each as sitting fee and Rs 2.27 lakh each as commission, the PTI report said. In the previous financial year, they had received Rs 4 lakh in sitting fees and Rs 97 lakh in commission.The youngest, Anant Ambani, has since been appointed as an Executive Director on the Reliance board. From this fiscal year, he is expected to earn between Rs 10 crore and Rs 20 crore in salary, the report said.Other notable non-executive directors on the Reliance board include Raminder Singh Gujral, Shumeet Banerji, former SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, former CVC K V Chowdary, veteran banker K V Kamath, and Saudi sovereign wealth fund nominee Yasir Othman H Al Rumayyan. All independent directors received a commission of Rs 2.25 crore each, along with a sitting fee, unchanged from the previous year.
