FirstCry CEO Supam Maheshwari's salary cut in half to Rs 8.6 crore a month

Supam Maheshwari, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of FirstCry, witnessed a 49 per cent decrease in his monthly remuneration, amounting to Rs 8.6 crore in the first three quarters of FY24, as compared to Rs 16.7 crore in the preceding year.

According to the revised draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), his overall earnings amounted to Rs 77.5 crore during the first three quarters of FY24, in comparison to Rs 200.7 crore for the entirety of FY23, said a report in Moneycontrol.

These compensation figures encompass short-term employment benefits and the accrual of share-based payments, while excluding provisions for gratuity, compensated absences, and other long-term employment benefits.

In the ten days leading up to the filing for an initial public offering (IPO) in December last year, Maheshwari sold 6.2 million shares in the company. This week, the company has again submitted its DRHP as the regulator asked for further details to be included in the document.

With each share being sold at Rs 487.44, the highest price achieved in December last year during the secondary share sale, Maheshwari's divested shares would amount to a value exceeding Rs 300 crore. Additionally, the CEO has also included himself as a selling shareholder in the public offering, the Moneycontrol reported.

Until 10 days before the draft papers were filed, Maheshwari held 35,097,831 shares, representing a 7.46 per cent stake in the company. However, by the time of filing the application, his ownership had reduced to 28,893,347 shares, reflecting a 5.95 per cent stake.

The Moneycontrol report stated that the updated IPO document reveals that the second-highest compensated Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) at FirstCry is Sanket Hattimattur, the co-founder and chief of staff. His total compensation for the initial three quarters of FY24 amounted to Rs 8.3 crore, compared to Rs 18.5 crore for the entire last fiscal year.

Gautam Sharma, the group chief financial officer, ranks third in terms of remuneration. He received a total compensation of Rs 1.6 crore during the first three quarters of FY24, compared to Rs 4.8 crore in FY23.

According to the revised DRHP, IPO-bound unicorn FirstCry's employee benefit costs totaled Rs 370 crore in the initial nine months of FY24, down from Rs 408 crore in FY23 and Rs 247 crore in FY22. Additionally, its share-based payment expenses amounted to Rs 134 crore in the first nine months of FY24, compared to Rs 361 crore in FY23, and Rs 92 crore in FY22, the Moneycontrol reported.