Former RBI deputy governor and Zomato chairman join BharatPe board

BENGALURU: Fintech company BharatPe on Monday announced the appointment of former deputy governor of RBI BP Kanungo and Zomato chairman Kaushik Dutta as independent directors to its board.

With the appointment of these directors, BharatPe’s board will now comprise of two Executive Directors- Shashvat Nakrani (Founder) and Suhail Sameer (CEO); five Non-Executive Directors- including former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar and four investor nominees.

The firm said Kewal Handa has stepped down from the board but would continue to support the board and the management in an advisory capacity.

Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of the Board, BharatPe said, “Earlier this year, we had put in place a robust governance framework and were in the process of identifying the right leaders who could join the Board in building BharatPe 2.0."

A few months ago, founder Ashneer Grover exited the company over allegations of misappropriation of funds. After the incident, many start-up founders and investors started debating about corporate governance in start-ups.

Suhail Sameer, CEO, BharatPe, said “With them joining, BharatPe has one of the most admired Boards in the country, comprising highly respectable names from the banking and financial services industry. Their diverse experience and deep understanding of the industry and the regulatory landscape will be a great asset for us at BharatPe as we continue to build products that disrupt the market."

Founded in 2018, BharatPe currently serves 1 crore merchants across 400 cities. It is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing over 18 crore UPI transactions per month (annualised Transaction processed value of $ 20 billion in payments).