Rajnish Kumar, the former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), draws a remuneration three times higher than what he used to earn at India's largest lender, by serving the board seats at various listed firms.

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Kumar, the Chairman at the Board of Indian fintech company BharatPe, also holds board seats at Hero Motocorp, LTIMindtree, Ambuja Cements, Brookfield India Real Estate Trust and Larsen & Toubro.

His combined remuneration from the three firms that was already on the board of was Rs 89 lakh for the fiscal 2023.

While he has already received remuneration from Hero Motocorp, LTIMindtree and Ambuja Cements for the 2022-23 fiscal, he has recently been appointed to the boards of Larsen & Toubro and Brookfield India Real Estate Trust.

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“Each independent director is paid an overall remuneration of approximately Rs 51 lakh per annum inclusive of sitting fees and commission for attending the board and committee meetings, except Mr. Rajnish Kumar who was appointed on March 30, 2023 and was being paid sitting fees of rupees one lakh for attending the board meeting of the Manager,” said Brookfield India Real Estate Trust in its FY23 annual report.

Moreover, he has been appointed as independent director at L&T from May 10, 2023 to May 9, 2028. L&T, which paid Rs 30 to 60 lakh in FY22 as remuneration, gave Rs one lakh to him as sitting fees for each meeting of the Board.

Kumar’s remuneration as non-executive independent director at Hero Motocorp has more than doubled to Rs 38 lakh in FY23. He has also earned Rs 33 lakh from LTIMindtree and another Rs 18 lakh from Ambuja Cements.

This, compares with the total compensation of Rs 30.34 lakh that he earned in FY21 as chairman of SBI. His salary for FY20 was Rs 31.26 lakh, showed the bank’s annual report.

However, apart from the salary, the former SBI chairman also enjoyed various other perks of becoming the leader of India’s largest lender. These include expansive accommodation at a prime location, bank provided transportation, travel perks and several other benefits.

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Kumar has held a variety of leadership roles at India's largest lender for 40 years and was its chairman for three years until Oct 2020. According to Bloomberg data, Kumar also acts as Advisor in OYO Hotels & Homes, Kotak Investment Advisors and Baring Private Equity Asia.

According to the Companies Act 2013, no person shall hold office as a director, including any alternate directorship, in more than twenty companies at the same time. It also says that the maximum number of public companies in which a person can be appointed as a director shall not exceed ten.

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)