The number of employees taking home over ₹1 crore a year in pay in ITC Ltd swelled by nearly 24 per cent in FY24 over the previous year as 68 more high-ranking officials joined the big-bulge bracket group in the last fiscal.

There are 350 employees who earned a gross remuneration of ₹1 crore or more in ITC compared with 282 in FY23.

The rise in the number of crorepati employees accelerated in the last fiscal over FY 23 when 62 more employees earned eight-figure salaries.

For employee benefits, the company spent ₹6,134.35 crore, including ₹5,352.94 crore in salaries and wages, on a consolidated basis in FY24. In comparison, ITC had spent ₹5,736.22 crore in FY23, including ₹4885.49 crore in salaries and wages. On a like-to-like basis, the expenses went up by 6.9 per cent.

Company sources suggested the uptrend reflects the rapidly expanding portfolio of ITC in many new verticals which required hiring more talent. In the last 2-3 years, it has opened eight new factories and two hotels (under direct ownership) pan India, deploying human resources.

Moreover, the rise in pay reflects ITC’s growth in profitability in FY23 over the previous year. The company’s profit went up by 24.5 per cent to ₹18,753.31 crore in FY23, resetting remuneration in the last fiscal.

ITC, which is a market leader in cigarettes in India, had 24,567 permanent employees as on March 31, 2024. The company, which has also emerged as one of the top three packaged food manufacturers, reported that median remuneration of employees increased by 5 per cent.

However, the average remuneration of employees went up by 10 per cent in FY24 while the average remuneration of employees excluding the key managerial personnel (KMP) went up by 9 per cent, according to the latest annual report of the company.

The median salary of employees, other than KMPs and the board of directors, was ₹7,14,281 for male and ₹7,03,725 for female employees. Apart from tobacco and food, ITC has a significant presence in paper and paper boards, hospitality, agri commodities, health and personal care (FMCG).

Top brass salary

Sanjiv Puri, chairman and managing director of ITC, received a 49.6 per cent jump in gross remuneration, which stood at ₹28.62 crore in FY24 compared with ₹19.12 crore in the previous year. B. Sumant, executive director, received a 52.4 per cent hike taking his pay to ₹13.6 crore in FY24. The other two EDs, Supratim Dutta and Hemant Malik, also received 59 per cent and 30 per cent rise in pay, respectively.

According to ITC’s remuneration policy, the chairman EDs are entitled to performance bonus for every financial year up to a maximum of 300 per cent and 200 per cent of their basic/consolidated salary, respectively, as may be determined by the board and linked to the performance of the company.