Putting an end to long-drawn negotiations on the contentious contracts issue, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday announced enhanced annual retainership amounts for a pool of 33 players, with top grade cricketers being granted a whopping Rs 60 lakh each.

Having already showered the Twenty20 World Cup-winning team with hefty cash incentives, the Board carried its magnamity onto the central contracts as well by increasing the retainership amount in the existing three categories while also introducing a fourth grade.

Paceman Zaheer Khan [Images] is the lone new name in the elite Grade A, which will get Rs 60 lakh as retainership, an increase of Rs 10 lakh from the earlier contract.

In a statement, the BCCI also said the C K Nayudu Awards Committee, comprising Sharad Pawar [Images], I S Bindra, M A K Pataudi, Prabhash Joshi and Niranjan Shah, unanimously nominated former India captain Nari Contractor for the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2006-2007. The award consists of a trophy, citation and Rs 15 lakh. The award ceremony will be held in November.

Following are  the retainership grades from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.

Grade 'A' [Rs. 60 lakh]: Rahul Dravid [Images], Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Sourav Ganguly [Images], Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh [Images], Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images], Zaheer Khan.

Grade 'B' [Rs 40 lakh]: V V S Laxman [Images], Harbhajan Singh [Images], Gautam Gambhir [Images], Wasim Jaffer, S Sreesanth [Images], Dinesh Kartik, R.P.Singh, Virender Sehwag [Images].

Grade 'C' [Rs 25 lakh]: Irfan Pathan [Images], Ajit Agarkar [Images], Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel [Images], Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina.

Grade 'D' [Rs 15 lakh]: Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose, Mohd. Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Akash Chopra, Yusuf Pathan.

A player who is not offered a retainership and selected to play for India in Test or One-Day Internationals will be placed in Grade 'D'.

If a player in Grade 'D' plays five Tests or 15 ODIs in a year he will be placed in Grade 'C' from that date and be paid retainership on pro rata basis.