India's richest man caps his salary at $3.3M

Mukesh Ambani's flagship company, Reliance Industries, said Thursday his decision reflects his "desire to set a personal example of moderation."

In 2008, he made 66 percent more, or 440.2 million rupees ($9.6 million), a drop in the bucket of his overall wealth, which Forbes magazine puts at $19.5 billion.

In March, Mukesh's younger brother, Anil, decided to forego all compensation this year, Tony Jesudasan, a spokesman for his group of companies, said Thursday.

Last fiscal year, Anil received 520.8 million rupees ($11.3 million).

The two brothers are locked in a bitter dispute over the spoils of their father Dhirubhai's empire which is scheduled to go before India's Supreme Court next week.

The global debate over executive compensation has largely bypassed India, where compensation is already regulated and economic growth has remained relatively strong.

The instabilities India suffered after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 were seen largely as imported problems, rather than domestic issues that required structural reform.

Also, Indian executives make far less than their Western counterparts -- on average 1/100th as much, according to one business lobby group.

But as India -- where over 450 million people live on less than $1.25 a day -- struggles to make sense of its robust but inequitable economic growth, the government has repeatedly asked executives to exercise restraint.

By early 2008, the ratio of the net worth of India's 50 billionaires to total gross domestic product was over 20 percent -- higher than in Brazil, Mexico and Russia, according the Centennial Group, an emerging markets consultancy based in Washington, DC; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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