CEOs should not be paid indecent salaries: Montek

The debate over remuneration of CEOs today grew louder with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stating that company heads should not be paid “indecent salaries”.

“I have seen those news reports. They have said there should not be indecent salaries and that is right also,” he told reporters here. Especially, when governments all over the world have pumped in $1.6 trillion to bail out the global economy from the financial crisis, Ahluwalia said there are concerns over the issue. “Globally it is the concern. There is no regulation on CEOs’ salary. It is the responsibility of corporate boards to fix salaries judiciously,” he said. The debate was triggered by remarks made by Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid that “I don’t think anyone in India today, in politics or outside politics ...has reached the level of liberalism where vulgarity is also a fundamental right.”

Khurshid clarified today that the government does not intend to control remuneration in India Inc but it has to remain under some regulation.“The idea of control has become old, but no control does not mean there is no regulation ... I am not for control, I am for regulation,” he said.