Stagnant Bonus Limits Salary Growth For ITC Chairman Amid Weak Consumer Demand

The slowdown in consumer demand weighed on ITC Ltd.'s financials in 2024-25, which in turn held back performance-linked payouts for its top leadership, including Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri.

According to the company’s annual report for 2024-25, Puri’s total remuneration rose just 1.9% on year to ₹256.6 million from ₹251.8 million. While his basic salary increased to ₹35.4 million from ₹31.2 million, his performance bonus marginally dipped to ₹213.9 million from ₹214.8 million.

ITC's remuneration policy links performance bonuses to qualitative and quantitative metrics, with a cap of 300% of basic salary for the chairman and 200% for other executive directors. In addition to fixed pay, the leadership is also eligible for long-term incentives like employee stock options and equity-settled stock appreciation rights. 

These are tied to individual performance and the company’s financial and sustainability goals, and are capped at 0.10% and 0.05% of net profit for the chairman and executive directors, respectively.

In 2024-25, the company granted around 1.5 million stock options to employees and board members at market price, of which Puri received 134,500. He held a total of 452,843 stock options as of March 31.

Puri has been with ITC’s top leadership since December 2015, moving up from whole-time director to CEO, then MD, and eventually taking over as chairman in 2019.