Ashneer Grover recalls asking Salman Khan to reduce Rs 7.5 crore fee for BharatPe ad | Watch

Ashneer Grover recently recalled asking Salman Khan to reduce his charge for acting in a BharatPe commercial as its brand ambassador. The actor's team had quoted Rs 7.5 crore as his fee but since that was way beyond Grover's budget, he approached the actor directly to discuss a more affordable fee. But, how the actor known for a volatile temper responded left the entrepreneur surprised.

The former BharatPe co-founder was narrating the incident during a college event where he was highlighting the perks of marketing oneself and the company.

"In 2019, I had decided to make Salman Khan the brand ambassador (of BharatPe). Nobody could have ever thought of it. I was a small company and I wanted to generate trust overnight and so I thought to make Salman Khan my brand ambassador," Grover said at the event.

At that time, he claimed he had Rs 100 crore to run the entire company. But as a small company he also had to "generate trust" among the consumers, especially since BharatPe is a fintech platform. So, to build trust for the company within a short amount of time, Ashneer Grover decided to bring in Salman Khan as the brand ambassador.

"When I approached Salman’s team, they told me that they will charge Rs 7.5 crore, that’s when I started calculating," Grover said. "I had Rs 100 crores, I had to pay Rs 7.5 crore to him, spend another Rs 1-2 crore on making the ad and including the payment to broadcasters, I was looking at an expense of Rs 20 crore for one ad. I didn’t know if I would get another round of investment, and so I told Salman to decrease his price, and he agreed to do the commercial for Rs 4.5 crore."