Delhi-based food entrepreneur Kawaljeet Singh has expressed his shock at an employee buying an Apple iPhone worth ₹70,000, noting that the employee’s monthly salary is less than half the cost of the expensive gadget. Singh also hit back at critics who claimed he was underpaying the employee, defending the salary as adequate compensation for someone who has no formal education and whose food and accommodation expenses are being taken care of by his company.
Salary: 26k; iPhone: 70k
Kawaljeet Singh is the co-founder of Khadak Singh Da Dhaba and founder of The China Door. In his post shared on the social media platform X one day ago, Singh said that an employee who earns ₹26,000 per month just shelled out ₹70,000 for an iPhone.
He also explained how the employee, an Operations Manager, managed to rustle up the sum. He took a one month salary advance from his employers, spent ₹14,000 from his own savings, and the rest — ₹30,000 — came from online financing.
The money he raised through online financing will have to be paid back. The EMIs come to ₹3,000 per month for the next 12 months.
Singh added that the employee has a dependent wife and three children. “Mind=Blown,” he wrote.
Founder faces backlash for low pay
While many criticised the Operations Manager’s lack of financial planning, others also slammed Singh for what they called a low wage.
“I think someone needs to do an intervention about this to him. He needs to sit down with a well educated finance advisor who can make him understand what he’s doing. He may have taken other loans as well without understanding the repercussions,” an X user opined.
“Dude, don’t call him manager, he is not even earning 1K per day. Mason earns more than this,” another told Singh. “Please give him a raise. Please! You’re such a miser in paying people,” an X user requested.
(Also read: ‘Disillusioned’ Indian man quits JPMorgan job and takes 70% pay cut: ‘Success isn’t big paychecks’)
“Isn’t it shameful for hiring an operation manager for only 26k a month?” a user asked.
Delhi founder hits back at critics
Singh finally responded to all the criticism in a follow-up post, where he explained that the employee in question has no formal education. He also revealed that besides earning ₹26,000 a month, the employee gets access to free accommodation and food as he works in the Food and Beverage industry.
“He works in FnB, so accommodation and food expenses are being taken care of by us,” wrote Singh, revealing that these expenses add up to around ₹20,000 per month.
“He doesn’t have a formal education, no other skills. Joined as a delivery boy & within 2-3 years, takes care of local ops. All training done by us at our costs,” the Delhi-based entrepreneur added.
Besides this, the Operations Manager gets extra perks like being able to take an advance on his salary any time he wants.
Singh further invited his critics to hire the man if they could pay him more. “Anybody who thinks he deserves better, don’t guilt trip me and hire him and pay him better. We can find someone with better skills at same salary package,” he said.
