Fortis CEO’S pay grew more than fourfold in two years
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The salary of Bhavdeep Singh, chief executive of cash-strapped Fortis Healthcare Ltd, rose more than fourfold between July 2015 and March 2017 even as the company’s financial health deteriorated.
Singh, who was hired at a salary of ₹3.91 crore in July 2015, saw his salary jump to ₹16.80 crore in the following year, according to the company’s annual reports of 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Singh was also paid a joining bonus of ₹7.23 crore and as many as 2.5 million stock options.
What makes the jump in compensation particularly egregious is that the hospital operator, under Singh’s stewardship, reported losses of ₹73.5 crore and ₹74.7 crore in 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively.
A recent investigation by law firm Luthra & Luthra also found that unsecured loans worth ₹445 crore were given to three firms affiliated to former promoters Singh brothers—malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh—during this period.
To be sure, the Luthra & Luthra report mentions “objections on record indicate that management personnel and other persons involved were forced into undertaking the ICD (intercorporate deposit) transactions under the repeated assurance of due repayment and it could not be said that the management was in collusion with the promoters to give ICDS to the borrower companies.”
In response to an emailed questionnaire, a Fortis spokesperson said, “The assertion is factually incorrect as there is a typo in the FY16-17 annual report with an incorrect number, grossly overstating Mr Singh’s income. We are aware of this and a correction will be published in the upcoming 17-18 report. In reality, his income has gone up 6 to 8% in each of the last two years which is very much within the norms (if not lower) of the country today.”