Top Management remuneration and corporate performance

Small is not only beautiful but rich as well in corporate India. Contrary to general perception, promoters of small and medium companies earn much more than their counterparts in large business groups and big corporate firms.

Five of the top 10 earners in FY16 were promoters of either mid-caps or second-tier business groups. Their numbers would increase to seven if we include the Munjals of Hero MotoCorp. Kumar Mangalam Birla is the only entry from the top business groups largely due to the combined earnings from A V Birla's four group companies.

While private sector companies in general paid around one per cent of their FY16 net profit to the board of directors, the corresponding ratio was 11 per cent for top payers in the mid-cap space. (SALARY LEAGUE TABLE FOR FY 2015-16)

This figure was 0.2 per cent for Reliance Industries, 0.4 per cent for Infosys, and 1.6 per cent for A V Birla companies.

Larsen & Toubro is an outlier among top corporates with remuneration of its top management equivalent to about four per cent of its net profit last year.