Board pay · India
Independent Director Sitting Fees by Sector in India
What a board seat actually pays, per meeting, read from what companies disclose rather than from a survey.
Across filed disclosures, banking, financial services & insurance boards pay the highest independent-director sitting fees in India — a median of ₹80,000 per board meeting, rising to ₹1,00,000 at the upper quartile. Fees vary far more by sector and company size than by a director's seniority.
The ranking
Median board sitting fee- 1Banking, Financial Services & Insurance₹80,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹1,00,000 · committee ₹50,000 · 87 disclosing companies
- 2Media, Telecom & Entertainment₹75,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹1,00,000 · committee ₹50,000 · 29 disclosing companies
- 3Real Estate & Infrastructure₹50,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹75,000 · committee ₹30,000 · 59 disclosing companies
- 4Pharma & Healthcare₹50,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹1,00,000 · committee ₹50,000 · 50 disclosing companies
- 5Consumer & Retail₹45,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹1,00,000 · committee ₹20,000 · 108 disclosing companies
- 6Manufacturing & Industrials₹40,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹81,250 · committee ₹25,000 · 140 disclosing companies
- 7Technology & Software₹40,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹50,000 · committee ₹25,000 · 39 disclosing companies
- 8Energy & Utilities₹40,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹40,000 · committee ₹30,000 · 29 disclosing companies
- 9Chemicals, Materials & Metals₹25,000 / meeting
Upper quartile ₹50,000 · committee ₹20,000 · 101 disclosing companies
Method and limits
Per-meeting board sitting fees as disclosed in company filings, grouped to canonical industries and reported as median and upper quartile. Companies filing no fee, or whose disclosure is graded low-confidence, are excluded rather than counted as zero. A sector needs at least five disclosing companies to appear at all.
Sitting fees are only part of the total. Committee fees are paid separately where a company discloses them, and some companies pay a profit-linked commission on top; neither is included in the ranking above. A sector needs at least five disclosing companies to appear here, so smaller sectors are absent rather than shown thinly.
As of 2026-08-23 · 694 filed records · FY 2021-22 to 2026-27