While BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover took home a salary of Rs 1.69 crore in FY22, his wife and the company’s former head of controls Madhuri Jain Grover was paid Rs 63 lakh during the period, according to regulatory filings by the company.
The couple were ousted from the fintech unicorn early last year over allegations of financial misconduct.
BharatPe’s financials also showed that former Chief Executive Officer Suhail Sameer was paid Rs 2.1 crore in FY22, while Chairman and former State Bank of India chief Rajnish Kumar fetched a remuneration of Rs 21.4 lakh.
Sameer stepped down as the CEO earlier this month.
Of the other key managerial personnel of the company during the period, founder and board member Shashvat Nakrani earned a compensation of Rs 29.8 lakh and board member Kewal Handa got Rs 36 lakh.
However, these remunerations do not include share-based payments to the individuals. The company’s financials showed that it had incurred Rs 70 crore of share-based payment expenses in FY22, up 218 percent from the previous financial year.
Employee stock options are expensed on the profit and loss account of a company when they vest. As such options have a vesting schedule spread over multiple years, the amount does not reflect the cost of such options granted during the year.
This is important because Grover, who is battling multiple legal proceedings brought on by the company, raised concerns over Rs 315 crore of ESOPs being granted to BharatPe’s top brass in FY22.
He alleged in a letter to board members and investors that most of the ESOPs were allotted to four key managerial personnel of the company – Chairman Rajnish Kumar, founder Shashvat Nakrani, former CEO Suhail Sameer, and general counsel Sumeet Singh.
BharatPe’s FY22 financial statement also carries the qualified opinion of its auditor, highlighting ‘material weaknesses’ in the company’s finances as a result of inadequate internal controls that led to fake invoices and a penalty by tax authorities.
In a lawsuit filed last year, the company has sought damages worth Rs 88 crore from Grover and his family for such alleged financial misappropriation.
BharatPe’s revenue from operations rose 284 percent to Rs 457 crore in FY22, while net loss widened 3.5 times to Rs 5,610 crore. Moneycontrol reported earlier that 85 percent of the loss was due to the change in value of preference shares.
In FY 22, the company’s expenses on account of salaries and wages increased 116 percent to Rs 110 crore and advertising costs rose 535 percent to Rs 246 crore.
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