10 highly paid people in construction industry

Construction industry may be passing through one of its worst times in the history but the top notch people in the industry have not yet felt pinch of the slowdown if their take home salary is any indication. Take the case of Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director of HCC who is the highest paid person in industry has seen his remuneration growing more than 80% during 2012-13 while revenue of the company during the same period has gone down by more than 4% and the company is still bleeding red. Similarly in case of Pratibha Industries, though the performance during the year hasn’t shown any significant improvement over the previous year, Ajit Kulkarni, Managing Director has seen his remuneration jumping up more than 2.5 times during the year. On the other hand, Gammon India Chief, Abhijit Rajan’s remuneration has gone down by more than 40% during 2012-13 vis-à-vis the previous year. Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd, the largest construction company has not taken home any salary and his perquisites during the year amounted to just Rs. 30 lakhs.

Construction industry traditionally had never been a good pay master and that scenario is slowly changing over the years. This clearly shows the competition prevailing in the industry and the efforts made by the companies to retain talent. Punj Lloyd, with a turnover of over Rs. 8000 crore has 17 employees (including directors) drawing a remuneration of more Rs. 1 crore p.a. South based NCC has five employees drawing annual salary of more than Rs. 1 crore.

Interestingly, there are many construction companies without Crorepati employees. Among them notable ones are Hyderabad based IVRCL and Simplex Infrastructure. In case of Simplex Infrastructure, A.D. Mundra, Vice Chairman and Whole-time Director, is the highest paid employee with an annual remuneration of Rs. 59 lakhs. Even in case of Supreme Infrastructure, an upcoming construction company with an annual profit of more than Rs. 100 directors take home less than rupees one crore as remuneration.

The Construction industry with a share of 8% in GDP is an important indicator of the development as it creates investment opportunities across various related sectors. In the coming years number of Crorepati employees in the industry is only going to multiply as there is insatiable demand for talent in the sector.

Here are some of the leading lights of construction sector.

Ajit Gulabchand, B.Com (Hons) and aged 64 years, has over three decades of experience in construction business and has served the Board of HCC, as Managing Director from April 1983 and was elevated as the Chairman of the Company in May 1994. Gulabchand had earlier served as Chief Executive Officer of Indian Hume Pipe Co. and as Managing Director of Ravalgaon Sugar Farm. His remuneration for the year 2012-13 was Rs. 10.66 crore.

Abhijit Rajan, who did his management studies in Europe was appointed as the Managing Director of Gammon India in 1991. He took over as the Chairman of the Company in 1996 and since then has been the Chairman and Managing Director of the Company. His last drawn salary in Gammon India was Rs. 6.85 crore (2012-13).

Ajit B. Kulkarni is the one who established the Pratibha Group in 1982 at a very young age of 24. Presently he is the Managing Director of the company. He was instrumental in giving the Indian construction industry its first SFRC manhole covers, which practically eliminated the use of cast iron counterparts. His remuneration for the year 2012-13 was Rs. 6.63 crore.

K. Ramchand who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Madras University and a post-graduation in ‘Development Planning’ from the School of Planning, Ahmedabad, was appointed as Managing Director of IL&FS Transportation Network in 2008 and has been associated with IL&FS Group since 1994. Prior to joining IL&FS, he was associated with the Operations Research Group, Dalal Consultants, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited. His remuneration for 2012-13 was Rs. 6.42 crore.

T. V Sandeep Kumar Reddy, aged about 46 years has over 21 years of experience in the construction industry. He has been associated with Gayatri Projects since its incorporation in 1989. Sandeep Kumar Reddy has done his Masters in Construction Engineering and Management from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA and also holds a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. His remuneration for the year 2012-13 was Rs. 4.50 crore.

Rajgopal Nogja holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Pune University and Masters Degree in Construction Management from NICMAR. He has over 18 years of experience in the Real Estate and Construction Industry. At HCC, he started his career in 2000 by assisting the Chairman and Managing Director of HCC Ltd. for strategic decisions & initiatives for new businesses, financial viability of projects and operations of the HCC Group. In April 2013 Nogia has been elevated as the Group Chief Operating Officer (Group COO) for the HCC Group businesses. He took home Rs. 3.59 crore as his remuneration in 2012-13.

Mukund Sapre who has been associated with the IL&FS Group since 1992 was appointed as an Executive Director of IL&FS Transportation in 2008. Sapre holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, a Diploma in Systems Management and also in Financial Management. Prior to joining the Company, he was involved with international projects in Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico and Spain. During 2012-13 Sapre took home Rs. 3.52 crore as his remuneration.

Atul Kumar Jain aged 51 is a BE degree holder. Jain is the CEO of Punj Lloyd and jointly with Ravindra Kansal heads the energy operations of the company in the Middle East, Africa and the CIS countries. His remuneration for the year 2012-13 was Rs. 3.22 crore.

A. A. V Ranga Raju is one of the chief promoters of NCC Ltd and has been the Managing Director of the Company right from the inception. He is an Under Graduate and has over 38 years of rich experience in the construction industry. He took home Rs. 3.15 crore as his remuneration in 2012-13.