ICONIC LEADER

A. M. Naik Group Chairman, Larsen & Toubro

` 78.9 crore (2016/17) ` 66.14 crore (2015/16)

ANIL MANIBHAI NAIK, 76, had joined engineering major Larsen &Toubro as a junior engineer in 1965 and rose through the ranks to become CEO and MD in 1999. In 2003, he became chairman and currently he has a non- executive role with the same rank, lending vision to and setting the agenda for the ` 1.2 lakh crore company. Naik has transformed the company into a global engineering & technology powerhouse.

Naik was among the highest paid executives in India in 2016/17, netting about ` 78.91 crore. The company's annual report reveals that Naik was paid

` 38.04 crore as retirement benefits, which included encashment of accumulated past service leave of ` 32.21 crore. Naik, who got a salary of ` 3.36 crore and ` 18.24 crore from commissions, also got perquisites worth

` 19.27 crore, including stock options exercised during the year (` 19.01 crore).

Naik, who has pledged over 75 percent of his wealth to charity, had offloaded some of his shares in L&T, worth nearly

` 72 crore, in March 2014. Naik's net worth is estimated to be over ` 400 crore.

–P.B. Jayakumar