BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover gets 1.69 lakh salary in FY22

Ashneer Grover, the founder of BharatPe, received a salary of 1.69 crore in FY 22, while Madhuri Jain Grover, his wife and former head of controls, received Rs 63 lakh, according to Moneycontrol.

The couple was fired from the unicorn fintech company in 2022 due to allegations of financial misconduct.

The former CEO of BharatPe, Suhail Sameer, received a salary of Rs 2.1 crore in FY 22, according to the company's financial records, while Rajnish Kumar, the chairman and former president of the State Bank of India, received a salary of Rs 21.4 lakh.

During that time, Shashvat Nakrani received a salary of 29.8 lakh and board member Kewal Handa received a salary of 36 lakh.

Share-based payments to individuals are not part of these compensations, as per the company. The company's share-based payment expenses increased by 218 per cent to 70 crore in FY22, according to its financial statements.

Grover, who is currently defending himself against numerous legal actions brought by the company, expressed his displeasure with Rs 315 crore in employee stock options ESOPs given to BharatPe's executive team in FY 22.

He said in a letter to the board of directors and investors that four important members of the company's management team — Chairman Rajnish Kumar, Founder Shashvat Nakrani, the former CEO Suhail Sameer and General Counsel Sumeet Singh — had received the majority of the ESOPs.

BharatPe's financial statement includes a qualified opinion of its auditor, which calls attention to material weaknesses in the company's financial management as a result of insufficient internal controls that resulted in phony invoices and a fine from tax authorities.

BharatPe's operating revenue increased by 284 per cent to Rs 457 crore in FY 22, but its net loss increased by 3.5 times to Rs 5,610 crore.

In FY 22, the company's costs for salaries and wages went up by 116 per cent to Rs 110 crore, and its costs for advertising increased by 535 per cent to Rs 246 crore.

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