Woman with 4 years of experience asks for Rs 45 LPA. CEO says ‘need loan to hire’

The CEO of an Indian startup says he was forced to pass on hiring a “really good candidate” because of her salary expectations. Gaurav Kheterpal, founder and CEO of Vanshiv Technologies, wrote about his experience on the social media platform X, sharing a snippet of his conversation with the company’s human resources department.

Kheterpal said that he came across a “really good candidate” and asked HR to proceed with her application. However, when they reported her salary expectations, the CEO was left shocked - and amused.

He explained that the candidate, who had four years of experience, was expecting a salary of Rs 45 lakh per annum - up 17 lakh from her current salary of Rs 28 lakh per annum.

“Read it again - this is 4 Years Experience. All you can do -pass it off with a bit of humour,” wrote Kheterpal.

With HR, he joked that he would need to take out a loan to hire the candidate. “We’ll have to apply for a loan to hire her. Let’s skip,” he wrote. The CEO shared a screenshot of the conversation on X.
Opinion among his followers was divided. Some agreed that Rs 45 LPA is too big an ask for only four years of experience, while others said that one’s salary should not depend on experience alone, but also on capabilities.