Mukesh's decision to take pay cut commendable: Khurshid

The government today lauded Reliance Industries (RIL) chief Mukesh Ambani's decision to take a pay cut and said that the industrialist has shown a "remarkable sensibility" towards the prevailing scenario with this voluntary step.

"What Mukesh Ambani has done is laudable...It's a good decision," said Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who recently sparked a debate on executive compensation by advising the industry to shun vulgar CEO salaries.

Yesterday, the country's top corporate house RIL announced that its Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani would take a pay cut and it was capping its top compensation of its top executives.

"This is part of a larger debate among corporates themselves and the government would be happy to engage in the debate," Khurshid told reporters here.

"It is about corporate governance, which is not about remuneration alone. It's about internal auditors, about shareholders, about disclosures and accountability.

"But taking a cut in remuneration is the most visible issue as far as the public is concerned. Whatever voluntarily a person like Mukesh Ambani has done shows remarkable sensibility to the prevailing thought process in the entire country," the minister said.

RIL has said that its CMD would draw a salary of Rs 15 crore for 2008-09 fiscal, down nearly two-third from over Rs 44 crore last year, and this reflected "his desire to set a personal example of moderation in executive compensation".