Anupam Mittal, Shark Tank India judge and founder and CEO of People Group and Shaadi.com, has stirred a debate on X after questioning the "35% salary increment” benchmark demanded by job candidates during negotiations.
In a post on Monday, Mittal mimicked a typical hiring conversation before raising a pointed question: “When can you join? In one month. Salary? 35% increment? Why 35%? Standard hai sir.” He then added, “WTF? Ye standard kisne banaya.”
The post quickly went viral, sparking a debate on salary hikes and increments.
Hours later, Mittal posted a clarification, saying the real issue was entitlement based on arbitrary numbers, not negotiations themselves.
“The point that most of you geniuses missed is that there is an entitlement of some arbitrary standard. If a role deserves it, one should demand even 2x, why just 35%? Ultimately, the market decides,” he wrote.
Debate on salary hikes and increments
{{/usCountry}}Debate on salary hikes and increments
{{/usCountry}}However, his comments triggered a discussion. While some users agreed with Mittal’s stance that compensation should be tied to value and skill, not a fixed template, others argued that employees often use benchmarks because companies routinely lowball salaries unless pushed.
One user commented, “35% to kam bola… It is more than 50% these days. Nowadays, candidates are asking salary based on skill.” To this, Mittal agreed, saying that “value (increment) should be commensurate with skill.”
Another user joked, “Sir pichle round ke valuation se 35% premium to deserve karte hain, that's VC standard.”
One X user also asked Mittal, “Why can't people ask for a higher increment when you can ask for higher equity all the time?” To this, the entrepreneur replied: “They can ask for sure but market will determine what they get no?” and the commenter added, “Surely. Giving that hike depends on the market, value-add, budget, and importance of the role. However, I believe asking for more is totally okay, if you can back it. Maybe ”standard hai" is not the way to go about it.”
“What do you think makes sense to ask for in these situations? It is quite hard to quantify. Shouldn't the HR team reaching out mention the salary they are ready to offer?” asked one user. Mital replied, saying, “I think it should be a function of being paid in line with the role. Whether that’s 10%, 35% or 100%. Ultimately, market decides your value, not u so idea should be to maximise capabality. But one cannot ask for 35% coz it’s a ‘standard’. For me that’s a reject right away.”