Reliance seeks Shareholder nod to Re-Appoint Ambani as Head for 5 years at NIL Salary

Mumbai(India), 07/08/23: Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s most valuable firm, has asked shareholders for permission to extend Mukesh Ambani’s five-year term as chairman and managing director of the company until 2029 – a period during which he has chosen not to be paid.

Ambani, 66, will surpass the company’s mandated 70-year age limit for chief executives, necessitating a special resolution by shareholders to elevate him above that age limit.

Reliance sought approval from shareholders in a special resolution to nominate Ambani as CEO till April 2029.

Ambani has been on Reliance’s board of directors since 1977 and was appointed chairman after the death of his father, group patriarch Dhiburhai Ambani, in July 2002.

According to the special resolution distributed to shareholders, Reliance’s Board of Directors authorised it on July 21, 2023, “”re-appointed Mukesh D. Ambani as Managing Director, for a period of 5 years from the expiry of his present term, i.e. with effect from April 19, 2024.”

According to the statement, Ambani had capped his annual income at Rs 15 crore from fiscal year 2008-09 (April 2008 to March 2009) to FY20; and since FY21, he has chosen to forego his salary owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, till the company and all of its companies were fully returned to their earning capacity.

As a result, he has not been paid a salary or profit-based commission for three years in a row, commencing in fiscal year 21.

Nita Ambani, a non-executive director on the company’s board, received a sitting fee of Rs 6 lakh (up from Rs 5 lakh in 2021-22) and a commission of Rs 2 crore for 2022-23 (unchanged from the previous year).

In 2020-21, she was paid Rs 8 lakh as a sitting fee and extra Rs 1.65 crore as a commission.
Non-executive directors include Dipak C Jain, Raghunath A Mashelkar, Adil Zainulbhai, Raminder Singh Gujral, Shumeet Banerji, former SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, former CVC K V Chowdary, and Saudi sovereign wealth fund nominee Yasir Othman H Al Rumayyan, in addition to Nita Ambani.

While all independent directors received a commission and sitting fee of Rs 2 crore.