Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania will be one of the highest paid executives in India after his reappointment for five years starting April next year.
According to the plans disclosed by the company, Kapania will be offered the following terms.
A basic pay of Rs 12.9 lakhs plus a special allowance of 14.8 lakhs, coming to a total of Rs 27.7 lakhs per month as his fixed pay. In addition, he will be eligible for variable or performance-related pay of up to Rs 7 cr per year (Rs 58.3 lakhs per month), taking his total potential cash payout to up to Rs 10.3 cr per year (Rs 86 lakhs per month) for the year starting next April.
The exact amount of variable pay, however, remains to be finalized by the board of directors.
In addition, Himanshu Kapania will also get a number of perks, including housing rent allowance of up to Rs 6.45 lakhs per month in case he decides not to use company-provided accommodation, and payments for his bills related to electricity, gas, water, telephone and “other reasonable expenses,” medical needs, corporate club membership and so on.
He will also get two company-maintained cars for his use.
His pay will be revised at the end of next year. However, there will be an upper limit of Rs 50 lakhs per month for fixed pay (which will be Rs 27.7 lakhs in the first year) for the next five years.
Idea Cellular is arguably India’s best run telecom firm as it does not have humongous debt like in case of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications. Idea is without doubt the fastest growing telecom company and was for long considered a vulnerable player that would ultimately be bought out by one or the other of its larger peers.
However, the Aditya Birla Group company has proven its critics and skeptics wrong over the last three years. It is seen as an aggressive player in the 4G space, where it is expected to be the third biggest player after Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.