While entrepreneur Kunal Shah is being celebrated across media platforms for building consumer-facing startups like Freecharge and CRED, a senior consultant from Deloitte, Adarsh Samalopanan, has taken a contrarian view by spotlighting Shah’s track record of financial losses and lack of profitability. In a recent LinkedIn post, Samalopanan scrutinized Shah's first venture, Freecharge, co-founded in 2010. He noted that while the company posted ₹35 crore in revenue by FY15, it also incurred ₹269 crore in losses, primarily driven by cashback offers. Freecharge was acquired by Snapdeal in 2015 for ₹2,800 crore, but the e-commerce company later sold it to Axis Bank for just ₹370 crore in 2017 — a steep fall to 14% of its earlier valuation. Samalopanan also reviewed Shah’s current venture, CRED, launched in 2018. According to publicly available data he cited, CRED has earned ₹4,493 crore in cumulative revenue over seven years but reported net losses of ₹5,215 crore, raising questions about the long-term financial sustainability of the business model. While Shah remains a prominent figure in India’s startup ecosystem and continues to draw attention for his fundraising abilities and product design, the consultant’s post brings focus back to unit economics and profitability — often side-lined in high-growth, valuation-driven narratives. The post has triggered active debate online, with users split between applauding Shah’s bold vision and others agreeing with the call for stronger financial fundamentals in startups.
