Slice Founder Rajan Bajaj Took Home Rs 12 Salary in FY23

Rajan Bajaj, founder of fintech unicorn Slice, took home an annual salary of just Rs 12 in FY23, as revealed by a recent report from PrivateCircle Research, a private market intelligence platform. This stands in stark contrast to FirstCry CEO Supam Maheshwari’s substantial remuneration of Rs 200.7 crore during the same period.

Slice, which reported a significant revenue surge to Rs 847 crore from its operations in payments and lending in FY23, achieved this growth despite facing regulatory challenges. The company had to discontinue its flagship product, a revolving credit line on a prepaid card, in the first quarter of FY23.

The disparity in salaries among unicorn founders is noteworthy. While Bajaj’s symbolic salary reflects a trend seen in some founder compensation strategies, Maheshwari’s case is an outlier with substantial financial rewards. Notably, Maheshwari’s monthly salary was reduced by 49 percent in the first three quarters of FY24, bringing his total remuneration to Rs 77.5 crore. This reduction followed his sale of 6.2 million shares before filing for an initial public offer in December.

The report also highlights significant gender disparity in founder salaries. Female unicorn founders earned a median salary of Rs 1 crore in FY23, nearly 44 percent less than their male counterparts, who earned Rs 1.8 crore. On average, male founders earned eight times more than their female peers.

Among the 114 unicorns analyzed, media and entertainment sector founders had the highest median salary at Rs 3.5 crore, followed by logistics at Rs 1.9 crore, and edtech at Rs 1.6 crore. Logistics unicorn founders had the highest average salary at Rs 12.4 crore, although this figure is skewed by outliers.

Geographical disparities were also evident. Pune-based unicorn founders boasted the highest average and median salaries among the top six startup hubs in India, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Pune’s average salary was Rs 20 crore, significantly influenced by Maheshwari’s earnings, while the median salary stood at Rs 3.7 crore.

The report sheds light on the broader issue of gender disparity in the Indian startup ecosystem, with 57 Indian unicorns having no women on their boards, as per a March 2024 analysis by PrivateCircle.

The findings are based on managerial remunerations disclosed in companies’ MCA filings. However, the report noted limitations in accessing founder salaries of foreign-registered companies, which includes many SaaS companies.