Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and MD at Hindustan Unilever (HUL) witnessed a 47 percent jump in his salary in the financial year 2022 to Rs 22 crore as compared to Rs 15 crore paid to him in the last fiscal, according to the company’s annual report.
Mehta drew Rs 3.7 crore as salary, Rs 9.2 crore as allowances, Rs 4.3 crore as a bonus and Rs 4.2 crore as perquisite - long term incentives. Contribution to provident fund and perquisites formed other components of his salary.
Mehta though was the highest-paid FMCG CEO in FY20 and drew a salary of Rs Rs 19.42 crore, his remuneration dropped by 21 percent in FY21 and Nestle’s Suresh Narayanan dethroned him at a pay package of Rs 17.19 crore (in 2020).
In 2021, however, Narayanan’s salary climbed 9.3 percent to Rs 18.8 crore and is significantly lower than Mehta’s Rs 22 crore. Nestle follows January to December financial year.
Other FMCG majors such as Britannia, Marico, Dabur, Godrej Consumer Products and Tata Consumer Products are yet to release their annual reports for FY22 and it remains to be seen who will emerge as the highest-paid FMCG CEO this year.
HUL’s other top executives such as Ritesh Tiwari, Wilhelmus Uijen and Srinivas Phatak were paid Rs 5.9 crore, Rs 11.5 crore and Rs 1.4 crore as an annual pay package in FY22. Ritesh Tiwari was appointed as a whole-time director and chief financial officer of the company on May 1, 2021, succeeding Srinivas Phatak. Uijen is the executive director, supply chain at HUL.
Mehta’s salary was 179.61 times higher than the median salary of HUL employees, while Tiwari’s salary was 53.07 times higher. The percentage increase in the median remuneration of HUL employees for the financial year was 3.3 percent. The company had 8,480 permanent employees on the roll as on March 31, 2022.
According to HUL, the average increase made in the salaries of employees other than the managerial personnel in the financial year was about 8 percent.
“In a post-pandemic world, the workforce dynamics and employee preferences are changing rapidly with companies facing a very competitive talent market. HUL has taken proactive reward and career-related measures to ensure our talent feels valued and maintain our competitiveness,” said the company’s annual report.
“The Board of Directors based on the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee has provided an increase of 8 percent in salary and allowances for Ritesh Tiwari and Dev Bajpai which shall be effective from 1st June, 2022. The increase in remuneration for Sanjiv Mehta and Wilhelmus Uijen will be placed before the Nomination and Remuneration Committee in due course for its consideration,” it added.
