Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal earns ₹16.8 cr in FY23; higher than Sunil Mittal

Bharti Airtel managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) Gopal Vittal received total remuneration worth ₹168,434,184 (₹16.8 crore) in FY 2022-23, which was higher than company's chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal's annual compensation that stood at ₹167,729,002 crore (₹16.7 crore).

Mittal's remuneration surged 8.92% over FY 2022-23, while Gopal Vittal saw 10.39% increase in the total remuneration in FY23.

However, the telecom company says there has been no change in the remuneration of Mittal from last year. “The change reflecting above is due to change in the perquisite value, which is within the limits approved by the shareholders.”

During FY23, Mittal, however, received a remuneration of GBP 2.20 million from the overseas subsidiary of the Company, Network i2i (UK) Limited, Bharti Airtel's annual report FY 2022-23 shows.

"At 100% performance level, the gross remuneration of Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal was ₹167,729,002 for FY 2022-23 and ₹153,986,068 for FY 2021-22 and that of Gopal Vittal was ₹168,434,184 for FY 2022-23 and ₹152,581,334 for FY 2021-22."

During the year, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Gopal Vittal were paid ₹52,500,000 and ₹74,748,231, respectively, as performance-linked incentives (PLI) for previous year 2021-22, which is excluding the overall compensation paid to them.

Gopal Vittal was also granted 1,99,140 stock options on August 12, 2022, under ESOP Scheme 2005 at an exercise price of ₹5 per option, with a vesting period spread over 3 years.

The telco says the overall remuneration of Vittal “does not include a perquisite value of ₹137,857,311 towards the value of stock options exercised during the year”.

The company adds the options can be converted into equity shares either in full or in tranches at any time up to 7 years from the grant date.

“The unexercised vested options can be carried forward throughout the exercise period. The options that are not exercised will lapse after the expiry of the exercise period. No other director has been granted any stock option during the year,” the company informs.

Other non-executive directors like Chua Sock Koong, Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Tao Yih Arthur Lang received annual remuneration worth ₹50.4 lakh, ₹30 lakh and ₹50.4 lakh, respectively.

The percentage increase in the median remuneration of employees of India’s second largest telecom company in FY 2022-23 stood at 7.4%, and the average increase in the remuneration of key managerial personnels (KMP) and managerial personnel was 5.13%. There were 13,708 employees on the rolls of the company as on March 31, 2023.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed 0.46% down at ₹870.45 on Friday as compared to ₹874.45 during the previous closing session on the BSE. At the current share price, the company’s market capitalisation stands at ₹4,86,812.08 crore.