NEW DELHI, Nov 21 –– The CEO of Indian food delivery giant Zomato has stoked a public debate by advertising a chief of staff job with an unusual twist: there will be no salary initially and the position instead comes with a 2 million rupee (RM105,900) “fee”.

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal sought “down to earth” candidates in social media posts late on Wednesday, saying they must also have “Grade A communication skills” and be willing to help build Zomato, its quick delivery business Blinkit and other verticals.

But the job will have no salary in the first year and require the person to instead pay a US$23,700 fee for what the CEO described as an “opportunity” with “10x more learnings than a 2-year degree from a top management school”.

However, Goyal assured candidates that the chief of staff position will come with an annual salary of at least 5 million rupees (US$60,000) from the second year if things work out.

The unusual call garnered both bouquets and brickbats on LinkedIn and X, with some business executives and users saying the move will provide a steep learning curve better than an MBA course, but others criticising it for creating barriers for ambitious candidates who can’t afford the “fee”.

“Love the creativity, but it automatically excludes ambitious, hungry folks who don’t have that kind of money (middle class),” Deepak Singh, who has previously worked at Walmart’s Flipkart, wrote on LinkedIn.

Aparna Mittal, an expert on diversity and inclusion, wrote on the platform: “This looks like a case of the privileged creating *opportunities* for the privileged only.”

However, tech programmer Arnav Gupta welcomed the unique job offer: “If you’re looking for a career in management consulting/strategy, this is worth waaaay more”.

Zomato did not respond to a request for comment on the reactions to his posts, which have garnered more than 5 million views.

Goyal is credited with building Zomato into India’s biggest food delivery company which is fast expanding into quick commerce, a shopping rage where groceries are being delivered in 10 minutes.

Zomato has seen its share price double this year, valuing the company at more than US$28 billion. –– Reuters