New Delhi, Sept. 27 (PTI) :Anil Ambani has foregone salaries and commissions of over Rs 50 crore from his group firms in 2008-09 as part of an austerity measure. He will, however, still get over Rs 50 crore as sitting fees and the previous year’s commissions.

As chairman of five of his group’s listed firms — Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Natural Resources — he was paid Rs 52.078 crore as sitting fees along with commissions from these firms for fiscal 2007-08.

During 2007-08, Anil's elder brother Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, was the top-paid executive in the country with a total remuneration of Rs 44.02 crore.

However, Mukesh’s remuneration for 2008-09 is not known as Reliance is yet to come out with its balance sheet for the year.

RIL on gas margin

R.P. Sharma, Reliance Industries’ president (gas business), has written to power secretary H.S. Brahma to justify the marketing margin on the sale of KG gas. Sharma said the levy was essential to cover risks and costs incurred in the marketing of gas.

Brahma had earlier questioned the margin as NTPC had asked his ministry to seek a specific confirmation for the levy from the government.

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Infra had refused to pay the levy, terming it as illegal. This prompted RIL to issue a notice for suspension of fuel supply for “default”. NTPC has sought to know whether the margins levied by RIL had the government’s approval.