Mistry earned Rs 2.47 cr in SP group in 2009-10

His salary may top Tata Group captains in coming years.

Cyrus P Mistry, the chairman designate of the Tata Group , earned nearly half of what many Tata group satraps earned as managerial remuneration. That could soon change. According to the annual report of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co, Cyrus and his brother, Shapoor, both managing directors, drew a remuneration of Rs 4.93 crore for the year ended March 2010.

This included a fixed remuneration of Rs 96 lakh, which grew fourfold over 2008-09. The bulk of the earnings came in the form of commission on profits. Both were entitled to a commission of one per cent on profits after deducting their commission. For 2009-10, this worked out to be Rs 1.84 crore, according to the annual report.

Assuming the brothers split their fixed remuneration equally, Cyrus’ total remuneration works out to be Rs 2.47 crore.

According to a BS Research Bureau Study, at least eight Tata Group officials earned more than what their chairman designate earned from his flagship company in 2009-10.

Though Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata was one of them, with a pay of Rs 3.74 crore, he was not at the top the list. With a package of Rs 7.72 crore, Raymond Bickson, managing director of Indian Hotels and a director at Oriental Hotels, was the top earner among the Tata brass.

Ravi Kant, vice-chairman, Tata Motors (Rs 4.61 crore), P M Telang, managing director of Tata Motors (Rs 4.6 crore), S Ramadorai (Rs 4.21 crore) and N Chandrasekaran (Rs 2.98 crore) of Tata Consultancy services, and B Muthuraman (Rs 4.03 crore) and H M Nerurkar (Rs 3.01 crore) of Tata Steel were the other lieutenants who drew more than Mistry in 2009-10.

At least 18 other senior Tata group officials drew over Rs 1 crore in 2009-10. For the year ended March 2011, the number of officials drawing over Rs 1 crore swelled to 34. Business Standard could not ascertain Mistry’s earnings for the year ended March 2011.

Interestingly, Ratan Tata’s remuneration more than doubled to Rs 8.72 crore. Only Carl-Peter Forster, the group chief executive of Tata Motors, who resigned in September, earned more at Rs 12.6 crore.

At least 10 Tata group officials, including these two, earned more than Rs 2.5 crore in 2010-11.

TATA GROUP TOP-10 EARNERS
FY2010			FY2011

NameCompanyAmt Rs  crName CompanyAmt Rs  cr Raymond N BicksonIndia Hotels7.72Carl-Peter Forster* Tata motors12.60 Ravi KantTata Motors4.61Ratan N Tata Group8.72 P M TelangTata Motors4.60Raymond N Bickson India Hotels7.78 S RamadoraiTCS4.21N Chandrasekaran TCS5.30 B MuthuramanTata Steel4.03H M Nerurkar Tata Steel4.15 Ratan N TataTata group3.74P M Telang Tata Motors4.04 H M NerurkarTata Steel3.01S Mahalingam TCS2.86 N ChandrasekaranTCS2.98R Mukundan Tata Chemicals2.78 S MahalingamTCS2.37Banmali Agrawala Tata Power2.60 Banmali AgrawalaTata Power2.16Bhaskar Bhat Titan2.57 * Stepped down from the company in September        Compiled by: BS Research Bureau          Source: Capitaline
Human resources experts say for promoters, salaries do not matter much. Kris Lakshmikanth, chief executive of The Headhunters India Pvt Ltd, an executive search firm, said for promoters, who owned substantial part of their companies, managerial remuneration was of little consequence. “For a professional chief executive, the remuneration is his only take home. Therefore, it is important. But for a person like Mistry, he owns 18 percent of the group; That’s what matters. For instance, Bill Gates’ salary is zero. But he owns Microsoft.”