Nithin Kamath : The BMI game at Zerodha: Nithin Kamath promises bonus to staff for losing weight, netizens don’t find it ‘healthy’ at all

Nithin Kamath, an advocate of health and fitness for years, announced a new ‘fun’ health program at Zerodha on the occasion of World Health Day on Thursday.

The Zerodha founder and CEO took to social media to announce that an employee who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 25 will get half-a-month’s salary as bonus.

To top up the challenge, he included other employees by offering each one half-a-month’s salary as a bonus if they can achieve an average goal of

In the social media post, Kamath informed that the team with lowest average BMI or largest change in average BMI will win the competition. “The winner chooses a charity everyone else contributes to. Maybe a health tech company can run the initiative,” he wrote in his post.

The 43-year-old also urged other companies to participate in the challenge and create a healthy workforce.

BMI, also know as an obesity indicator, can help determine if a person is underweight, overweight or obese using a simple mathematical formula.

BMI = weight (kg) / height 2

The tool, while not 100 per cent accurate, has attracted criticism in the past when athletes were tagged unhealthy because their BMI went over 25.

Kamath also posted a disclaimer in the end, saying that while he is aware that BMI isn’t the best measure to track health and fitness, it is the easiest way to get started.

“With health & most other things in life, the most important bit is to get started. Btw, walking 10,000 steps daily is a great start if you’ve been wanting to get healthy,” he concluded his post.

However, his ‘healthy’ move was met with some concern and criticism by followers on social media, with many calling it “a risky game”. Many users suggested him to reconsider indulging in such programmes that can pressurise his employees and challenge their mental health.

Raising concerns about his hiring method, some even wondered if he offers jobs based on people’s weight.

Kamath’s stunt reminded a lot of users of a similar episode from the popular American sitcom ‘The Office’. Users didn’t shy away from calling him Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) – an ignorant and unaware manager who lacks basic social etiquette. This episode showed how some employees took drastic measures to lose weight.

The initiative was welcomed by a number of people too. Many business leaders reached out to him to plan the next step forward, and one of them was GOQii founder Vishal Gondal.

This is not the first time Kamath has experimented with a health reward.

Last August, the fitness enthusiast-cum-entrepreneur was concerned about the unhealthy habits of Zerodha employees after the first lockdown due to the lack of physical activity, work-life imbalance, bad diet, among other things.

To encourage a healthy lifestyle, he had introduced a 12-month get-healthy goal target for employees.

The employees were asked to update the progress every month. As a reward, employees who reach the goal were promised a one-month bonus salary, and one lucky draw for Rs 10 lakh.

“The transformation stories are super inspiring & pushing others to take action as well. We also have proof that getting healthy improves professional performance as well. Our Get Healthy program will now run permanently,” he had said in his earlier tweet.