ByBengaluru: Troubles do not end for this Bengaluru-based startup Saarthi AI; what was seen as a desperate and necessary measure to become profitable is finally taking a toll on them. Since March 2023, the company has reportedly not paid the salary for several of its employees and conducted the mass layoff last year.
The CEO of Saarthi AI says that his passport was stolen by a former employee and that it contained a US visa.
Saarthi AI founder and CEO Vishwa Nath Jha had told news agency PTI in July that the company was forced to resort to layoffs and let some people go for it to turn profitable. He said “investor pressure” forced the company into the layoffs. Meanwhile, the plot thickened today when a report in Entrackr—a website that reports on technology news—quoted Jha saying that his passport was stolen by a top employee, now preventing him from traveling abroad to raise fresh capital for the beleaguered firm.
“I could reissue a new passport, but I am yet to get the US visa again. It’s a long queue,” Jha said.
Unpaid Salaries Discontent
He, however, rubbished the allegations of employees’ salaries being withheld. Jha said that no such action had been taken and that the charges were only a ploy to defame the AI start-up. “We are planning to fill key positions as it negotiates deals [business] with several banks and NBFCs,” he added. Current and former employees of the company, however, have a different story to tell. The mass layoffs in September last year brought Saarthi AI’s workforce to 40 from the high nineties. Entrackr spoke with a dozen employees who all said they were yet to be paid their pending salaries. “The firm has been holding the salaries of more than 50 employees for over a year now, and it doesn’t even reply to the legal notices. The founder has been unresponsive. Even on multiple occasions, he mentioned that he doesn’t owe us any explanation,” said a former employee requesting anonymity.
Bengaluru-based Vishwa Nath Jha did admit that the company had not deposited TDS on behalf of employees for the last two fiscal years. “The startup is still not generating surplus cash to clear long-standing dues. We have been transparent in our communications with the concerned ex-team members. “We are working hard towards being operationally cash flow positive by Q2 2024 to make the company self-sustainable, continue running company operations, and support all our current employees. Further, Saarthi.ai is in active discussions with its investors to raise fresh capital in order to meet the liability,” Jha added.
