New Delhi, March 9 The salaries of startup founders in India saw a significant decline in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as the average salary of 54 founders from 30 Indian tech startups fell by 25.4 per cent to Rs 5.44 crore from Rs 7.3 crore in the previous year.
Amid the startup ecosystem continuing to struggle with a severe funding slowdown, these founders collectively earned Rs 291.5 crore in salaries in FY24.
This drop in founder salaries comes at a time when Indian startups are facing challenges due to the ongoing "funding winter," which began in 2022.
However, to deal with ‘funding winter’, the government announced the abolition of angel tax in Union Budget presented in July 2024.
The slowdown in investments was triggered by global uncertainties, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the report said.
As a result, total funding for Indian startups fell sharply from $42 billion in 2021 to $25 billion in 2022, and further declined to just $10 billion in 2023.
There has been little improvement in funding trends in 2024. To cope with this financial crunch, many startups have taken cost-cutting measures such as reducing marketing expenses, laying off employees, and restructuring their businesses.
Some have even shut down operations to survive the downturn. The report highlights that while some startups managed to remain profitable, others struggled with heavy losses.
The 30 startups in the study reported a total operating revenue of Rs 73,715 crore in FY24. Of these, 11 startups faced a combined loss of Rs 4,876 crore, while the rest reported total profits of Rs 7,960 crore.
The report also ranks the highest-paid startup founders of FY24. Supam Maheshwari, the founder of FirstCry, retained the top spot with an annual salary of Rs 103.8 crore.
However, this was nearly 50 per cent lower than the Rs 200.7 crore he earned in FY23, as mentioned in FirstCry’s red herring prospectus.
Zerodha’s founders, Nikhil and Nithin Kamath, ranked second in terms of salary. Nithin earned Rs 33.5 crore in FY24, a 30 per cent drop from Rs 48 crore in the previous year, while Nikhil’s salary stood at Rs 33.9 crore, down 29 per cent from FY23.
However, when considering other income sources, their total remuneration stood at Rs 96 crore each.
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