Petronet pays CEO, directors Rs 15 lakh each in commission

Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) has paid a commission-on-profit of Rs 15 lakh each to its chief executive A K Balyan and two other whole-time directors, besides paying Rs 5 lakh each to two former oil PSU executives who are on its board as independent directors.
According to the company's annual report of 2013-14, Balyan, who was Director (HR) of ONGC before becoming CEO and Managing Director of PLL on July 16, 2010, was paid a commission-on-profit of Rs 15 lakh over and above his salary package of Rs 67.78 lakhs.
PLL Director (Finance) R K Garg, who previously was with steel PSU SAIL, and Director (Technical) Rajendra Singh, who previously was with ONGC, too were paid a similar commission on profit for the year 2013-14, the report said.

Garg's total compensation after including the commission came to Rs 65.66 lakh for the year, while that of Singh came to Rs 62.01 lakh.
Besides, Ashok Sinha, former Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), and B C Bora, former Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), got Rs 5 lakh commission on profit each.
This commission was over and above the sitting fee of Rs 2.4 lakh that Sinha got for the year and Rs 2 lakh that Bora earned.

Both Sinha and Bora got appointed as independent directors of PLL after retiring from PSU jobs.

ONGC and BPCL along with Indian Oil Corp and GAIL are equal owners of the PLL, which is registered as a private listed firm.
"Commission is calculated with reference to profits of the Company in a particular year and is determined by the Board and Shareholders, subject to overall ceiling as prescribed in the Companies Act, 1956," the report said.
PLL had reported a net profit of Rs 1,055 crore on a turnover of Rs 37,832 crore in 2013-14.
Balyan, 63, who was appointed CEO of India's biggest liquefied natural gas importer in July 2010, got a Rs 7,15,779 hike in salary and allowances in 2013-14. His salary and allowances totalled to Rs 57.98 lakh in 2013-14 as compared

to Rs 50.82 lakh in the previous year.
His pre-commission salary package in 2012-13 was Rs 59.94 lakh.
Garg too got Rs 20 lakh commission that took his salary package to Rs 67.56 lakh in 2012-13. Singh who was appointed Director (Technical) on November 14, 2012, got Rs 7.56 lakh commission while his predecessor C S Mani Rs 11.06 lakh commission.
Bora and Sinha had got Rs 7.5 lakh commission each that year. This was over and above their sitting fee of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.2 lakh respectively.
Petronet had reported a profit of Rs 1,149 crore on a turnover of Rs 31,649 crore in 2012-13.