These are some of the highest paid founders of Indian startups tapping capital markets this year

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These are some of the highest paid founders of Indian startups tapping capital markets this year
  • Nykaa, Paytm, PolicyBazaar and MobiKwik, among others, have filed for their IPO.
  • The preliminary filings with the SEBI reveal the salaries of top executives of each of these companies.
  • Falguni Nayyar is the highest paid tech company CEO, with an annual remuneration of ₹10.8 crore
The Indian startup ecosystem was busy churning out unicorns in the summer of 2021, and the initial public offerings (IPO) started raining during the monsoon season.

The first half of the year marked the public debut of gaming company Nazara Technologies and online travel agency EasyMyTrip. The second half has witnessed the jaw dropping performance of Zomato, which brought 80% premium to those who got shares in the IPO, and there are many more looking to tap the capital markets.

As part of the IPO prospectus, these companies reveal the remuneration paid to the top executives. Business Insider has compiled a list of founders in descending order of salaries that they have received in the last financial year. This is not an exhaustive list.

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Falguni Nayyar, Nykaa ⁠— Salary for FY21: ₹10.8 crore

Falguni Nayyar, Nykaa ⁠— Salary for FY21: ₹10.8 crore
BCCL

Falguni Nayyar, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of fashion e-commerce platform Nykaa, received a remuneration of ₹10.8 crore in the financial year 2021.

This represents a five-fold increase in the last year, from ₹2.7 crore in FY19. She also owns shares in the company through Falguni Nayar Family Trust and Sanjay Nayar Family Trust, fund managed by KKR India head Sanjay Nayar and Nayar part of will be sold in the public issue.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm— Salary for FY21: ₹3.4 crore

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm— Salary for FY21: ₹3.4 crore
BCCL

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, drew a compensation of ₹3.4 crore in the year ending March 21. However, he was re-appointed as the managing director and CEO of Paytm's parent company One97 Communication in July 2021. This also resulted in an increment to ₹4 crore annually.

Additionally, Sharma also received several perquisites like two vehicles, fuel, driver, accommodation on lease, reimbursements related to meal expenditure, health and motor insurance and more.

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Deepinder Goyal, CEO and cofounder of Zomato — Salary for FY21: ₹1.9 crore

Deepinder Goyal, CEO and cofounder of Zomato — Salary for FY21: ₹1.9 crore
BCCL

Zomato’s shares are already listed and it was considered a watershed moment for the Indian tech startups ecosystem when the food delivery business’s valuation breached $₹1 lakh crore.

As a part of the pre-IPO process, Goyal was appointed as the managing director and CEO of Zomato for the next five years until March 2026, with a basic salary remuneration of ₹3.5 crore.

However, he had voluntarily waived off his updated remuneration for a period of 36 months from April 1, 2021 onwards.


Goyal earned an annual remuneration of ₹1.9 crore in the last financial year ending March. He also has 5% shareholdings in the company, which is now valued at over ₹5468 crore.

Yashish Dhaiya, CEO of PolicyBazaar — Salary for FY21: ₹2.8 crore

Yashish Dhaiya, CEO of PolicyBazaar — Salary for FY21: ₹2.8 crore
BCCL

Yashish Dhaiya founded policyBazaar along with Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar in 2008. Dhaiya took home ₹2.80 crore between April 2020 and March 2021.

This included ₹80 Lakh annual variable pay that will be paid in the current financial year and ₹50 lakh as bonus paid last year for the year ending March 2020.

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Alok Bansal, CFO of PolicyBazaar— Salary for FY21: ₹2.1 crore

Alok Bansal, CFO of PolicyBazaar— Salary for FY21: ₹2.1 crore
BCCL

Alok Bansal earned about ₹2.1 crore for the year ending March 2021. This includes bonus payments for the last two financial years, of ₹44.6 lakh and ₹46 lakh respectively.

Bansal was re-appointed as a Whole-time Director of PB Fintech for a period of five years with effect from June 28, 2021. His revised remuneration would include a basic monthly salary ranging between ₹4 lakh to ₹12 lakh.

Upasana Taku and Bipin Preet Singh, co-founders of Mobikwik — Salary for FY21: ₹1.4 crore

Upasana Taku and Bipin Preet Singh, co-founders of Mobikwik — Salary for FY21: ₹1.4 crore
BCCL

Upasana Taku and Bipin Preet Singh both received a remuneration of ₹1.4 crore and a variable pay of ₹35 lakh each in the year ending March 2021, taking the total to ₹1.75 crore.

According to a resolution passed by the company’s board of directors, both of them would now be eligible for a salary of ₹4 crore in the financial year ending March 2022.

This includes fixed compensation of ₹ 2.5 crore, variable compensation of ₹1/5 crore and flexible compensation of ₹10 Lakh per annum. Singh has 37.8% shareholdings in Mobikwik, while Taku has 26.7%.

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Rishi Gupta, CEO of Fino PayTech— Salary for FY21: ₹3 crore

Rishi Gupta, CEO of Fino PayTech— Salary for FY21: ₹3 crore
Fino Bank

CEO of neo bank Fino, Rishi Gupta, was paid a remuneration of ₹3 crore for the financial year ending March 2021. This was approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2019.

A neobank is a digital bank without any physical branches.

Gupta’s revised remuneration for the current financial year includes ₹2.5 crore as fixed pay, ₹20 lakh cash bonus and stock options worth ₹2.9 crore. The revised remuneration is yet to be approved by RBI.

Vinay Vinod Sanghi, CEO of CarTrade— Salary for FY21: ₹5.21 crore

Vinay Vinod Sanghi, CEO of CarTrade— Salary for FY21: ₹5.21 crore
Business India

Vinay Vinod Sanghi is the chairman, managing director and the chief executive officer of CarTrade. He received an aggregate compensation of ₹5.21 crore in the fiscal 2021.

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