Exclusive: Bharatpe gives 20% hike to its employees in the wake of the coronavirus crisis

• From startups to large multinationals, fear of job losses and massive pay cuts looms due to coronavirus.
• But in the midst of this, digital payments startup Bharatpe gave a 20% hike to its employees.
• It also plans to hire more people and double down on its merchant network.

Every other day Indian companies are either letting go of their employees or senior management's salaries to survive during times of Coronavirus lockdown. From startups to large multinationals, the fear of job losses and massive pay cuts looms large across the nation.

In the midst of this, digital payments startup Bharatpe gave a 20% hike to its employees.

“I closed the appraisals two days ago and I have given a 20% hike to my employees. To me it’s like cycles will come and go, but can you keep your sanity and be ready to build a bigger business,” said Ashneer Grover, CEO and co-founder, Bharatpe in an interview to Business Insider.

While every other company and even startups announced voluntary salary cuts, Grover dismissed the trend as a ‘fashion’. “It sounds like good PR if you cut your own salary or that of the senior team management, but I don’t believe in that,” he said.

BharatPe, being a merchants payments leader, also offers peer to peer loans for investments with 12% interest. So, the payment enabler is also banking heavily on loans for its revenue. So far, the company has disbursed over ₹140 crore

Now, Grover plans to hire more people and double down on its merchant network as more and more people will apply for loans as their businesses would be impacted because of coronavirus.

“The moment the lockdown lifts I will have more people on the ground acquiring new merchants. These new merchants will over time farm into the loans we give out,” said Grover.

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