Exclusive: Sachin Bansal’s Navi paid Rs 5 Cr plus to Ankit Agarwal in salary and perks

Sachin Bansal became a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the third time recently when he acquired a majority stake in the microfinance company Chaitanya Finance. However, Bansal kicked-off his second inning with BAC Acquisitions (BACQ) after the billion-dollar payout from Flipkart’s exit.

BACQ has posted a total income of Rs 16.7 crore, and unlike his first venture Flipkart, which is yet to turn profitable; BACQ has turned out profits in the very first fiscal of its operations. 

According to the company’s annual filings, it has recorded a net profit of Rs 1.93 crore in FY19. That has meant a rewarding time for fellow Director and IIT Delhi batchmate Ankit Agarwal, who took home over Rs 5 crores in salary and perks. 

The company also paid Rs 2.19 crore in taxes, which means that the company actually earned a profit before tax of Rs 4.12 crore at a rate of over 24.6% on sales. 

BACQ’s overall expenses stood at Rs 12.58 crore out of which legal and professional costs accounted for Rs 3.02 crore and employee benefit expenditure was recorded at Rs 5.81 crore for FY19. As per the Balance Sheet, the company holds most of its assets in current financial investments, which at Rs 55.45 crore make up around 98.8% of the total assets.

It’s worth noting that these figures are only for four-five months (December to March 2019). Bansal officially launched his first venture after Flipkart, back in December 2018. Additionally, a separate set of filings with the MCA reveal that BACQ rechristened its name to Navi Technologies.

While the employee benefit expenditure is a no way an eye-popping figure, it may surprise you when we dig deeper. Ankit Agarwal drew Rs 5,15,68,387 (over Rs 5 crore) as salary and other benefits. 

This is easily one of the highest annual remuneration and perks in the local startup ecosystem.

For perspective, Paytm’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had an annual salary of Rs 3,00,00,000 (Rs three crore) along with other benefits including vehicle, fuel, driver, mobile bill, food, insurance, travel among others. 

The above numbers are based on Paytm’s annual report that it sent to its shareholders. Entrackr has a copy of the report. 

Till recently, the highest salary in the Indian startup ecosystem was reportedly paid to Quikr’s co-founder and CEO Pranay Chulet. His remuneration was about Rs 4.28 crore in FY18. Remuneration for Bhupinder Singh, the CEO, and founder of lending firm InCred stood at Rs 4 crore plus car and driver benefits.

Compared to the co-founders mentioned above, Agarwal drew more in annual salary and other perks. In the past, Agarwal had served as a Director with Bank of America and was the Vice President of Deutsche Bank for over six years. 

It is highly likely that Aggarwal was getting paid handsomely in the past jobs he had in the Banking Finance Sector, even more than his remuneration at BACQ Acquisitions.

Agarwal holds only 0.02% equity in BACQ Acquisitions. Since his ownership in the company is minimal, his annual salary and perks aren’t as surprising as they may seem. Navi began operation just four months before completion of FY19. So, the bigger question: was Agarwal’s salary and other benefits for an entire fiscal or four months?

If the given salary and perks were for only four months, then it seems like Agarwal pocketed over Rs 1.3 crore a month. But we believe Ankit Agarwal was involved with the launch and structuring of the company way before its incorporation.

Entrackr has sent queries to Bansal about Agarwal’s remunerations. We will update the post as and when he responds.