Unpaid Salaries & Unusual Layoffs, Deeptech Startup 'Saarthi.ai' faces juggling chaos!
Saarthi.ai, a deeptech startup, has been having problems over the past year because it hasn't paid salaries to past and current employees for years. The company also saw a workforce reduction of more than 70% at the same time.
Since March 2023, Saarthi.ai has cut its workforce from 140 to 40, and the majority of these workers are still waiting for their pay. Additionally, for the past two fiscal years, the company has not paid the tax deducted at source (TDS) to the government.
A PTI report in July 2023 focused on the company's layoffs and long-standing employee debts without providing many specifics. Vishwa Nath Jha, the CEO of Saarthi.ai, also stated that pending salaries would be settled within three months. Over the course of more than a year, the company has held salaries for more than 50 employees and even failed to respond to legal notices.
An anonymous former employee stated, "The founder has been unresponsive and even mentioned that he doesn't owe us any explanation on multiple occasions."
In response to the media inquiries, Jha confirmed that investors had forced Saarthi.ai to reduce its workforce to 40 employees. However, he asserts that these layoffs occurred prior to September of the previous year. Jha also acknowledged that during the previous two fiscal years, Saarthi.ai did not deposit TDS on behalf of employees. “The startup is still unable to generate sufficient surplus cash to pay off past dues. We have communicated with the ex-team members in question in a transparent manner.
In order to maintain company operations and provide support to our current team members, we are putting in a lot of effort to become operationally cash flow positive by Q2 2024. In addition, "Jha stated that Saarthi.ai is actively engaging in discussions with investors to raise additional capital to address outstanding debts and liabilities."
Saarthi.ai was founded in 2017 by Jha, Sameer Sinhaa, and Sangram Sabat. It caters to users of Indic, South Asian, Arabic, and European languages using conversational AI for languages with limited resources.
Kunal Shah's QED Innovation Labs, Capri Global Capital, and Lead Angels Network, among others, provided funding for the Bangalore-based startup. Notably, the company is in trouble at a time when AI startups are receiving more funding.
