Airtel Shareholders Approve Waiver in Recovery of Excess Remuneration to Chairman Mittal

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel shareholders have approved a proposal allowing chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal and CEO Gopal Vittal to retain excess remuneration paid in 2018-19, according to a regulatory filing.

Over 88 per cent of shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) held on August 14 voted in favour of the special resolution for waiver of recovery of excess managerial remuneration paid to Mittal during FY19, while 11.7 per cent voted against it. "Therefore the resolution...has been approved with requisite majority," it added.

However, when seen category-wise, all of promoter group votes were cast in favour of the proposal, although within the public institutions category only 52 per cent of voters supported the proposal. In the public non-institutions category 99.9 per cent were in favour of the proposal.

A similar proposal for Vittal received overall 88.6 per cent total votes in favour, and 11.3 per cent votes against it. Public institutions category, in this case, had 58 per cent votes in favour and 41.9 per cent votes against the motion.

In July, the company in a filing, outlining the agenda for the AGM, had informed that Mittal's remuneration in 2018-19 was Rs 21.19 crore more than prescribed limits under the Companies Act.

However, the remuneration was within the limits as approved by shareholders on August 19, 2016.

Accordingly, Bharti Airtel had sought the approval for the proposal, and other items, at its AGM scheduled on August 14. Total remuneration paid to Mittal was about Rs 31 crore, while Vittal was paid Rs 20.9 crore against the ceiling of around Rs 9.8 crore and Rs 12 crore, respectively, for 2018-19.

Bharti Airtel's revenue and profit have been eroding due to a fierce tariff war after the launch of services by Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio. Shareholders at the company's 24th AGM have also approved a proposal - with 87.7 per cent votes in favour - for payment of remuneration to Mittal for the period April 2019 to September 2021.

It had proposed that such remuneration, would be "minimum remuneration in case the company has no profits or the profits of the company are inadequate during period commencing from April 1, 2019 to September 30, 2021 or for such shorter period as may be prescribed under applicable laws..."