Bhindi kharidne aaye ho: When Shark Tank India fame Ashneer Grover negotiated Salman Khan's fees for brand endorsement

Former Bharat Pe co-founder Ashneer Grover has become a household name after his appearance as a judge on the business reality show, Shark Tank India . The businessman had once approached Bollywood actor Salman Khan with a proposal of becoming the brand ambassador for his business. He recalled the incident in his speech as a guest speaker at a private university in April this year.

During his speech, Ashneer was talking about the importance of building trust and other important aspects of starting a venture. It was when he described how he negotiated with the superstar with the limited resources he had at that time. He said that there was Rs 100 crore in total in his bank account with which he had to run the business. He decided to get Salman on board as the brand ambassador and got in touch with his manager.

Shark Tank India fame Ashneer Grover and Anupam Mittal meet over dinner, fans ask 'who paid the bill'

Ashneer revealed that Salman’s manager quoted Rs 7.5 crore to promote his product. However, he requested Salman to reconsider the fees as he couldn’t afford to pay the amount. And Salman slashed his fees to Rs 4.5 crore and agreed to go ahead with the promotion. Later, Salman’s manager taunted him for the negotiation and said, "Sir aap bhindi kharidne aaye ho kya, kitni mandawali karoge (Sir, have you come to buy vegetables, how much will you negotiate)?” To which he replied, "Mere paas hai hi nahi paise, de hi nahi sakta" (I don't have enough money, I cannot give).

Meanwhile, Ashneer as a judge encouraged entrepreneurship on the first season of Shark Tank India along with other successful entrepreneurs Peyush Goyal(Lenskart), Namita Thapar (Emcure Pharmaceuticals), Vineeta Singh(Sugar Cosmetics), Aman Gupta (Boat), Ghazal Alagh (MamaEarth), and Anupam Mittal (Shaadi.com). He invested in several start-ups /business ideas on the show.