BharatPe managing director Ashneer Grover: BharatPe co-founder and MD Ashneer Grover has taken voluntary leave for the end of March. This information has come to light from a statement released by the fintech company on January 19. The company said, Grover has informed the board of the company today itself about his decision to go on leave.
The announcement comes amid an ongoing controversy over Grover’s alleged use of inappropriate language against Kotak Group staff.
Company issued statement
The company said, “For now, the board has accepted Ashneer’s decision. We agree to this in the interest of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support daily.”
BharatPe said that in Grover’s absence, “our CEO Suhail Sameer and his strong management team will be able to take the lead.” According to the statement, “Ashneer has painstakingly built BharatPe and his decision is in line with his commitment to the company’s successful future.”
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Audio clip of Kotak employee threatening went viral
Earlier this month, an audio clip went viral in which Grover allegedly abused and threatened a Kotak Group employee for missing out on share allotment during the IPO of FSN E-commerce Ventures. FSN E-Commerce Ventures operates Nykaa, an online fashion and wellness company.
Legal notice was sent to Kotak
On January 6, Grover claimed that the viral audio clip was “fake” and that the person releasing it was a “scamster”. Grover tweeted, “This is a fake audio from which scammers were trying to extort funds ($2.4 million worth of bitcoins). I refused to give.” However, Grover later deleted the post which claimed the audio to be fake. Moneycontrol then reported that Grover had sent a legal notice to Kotak for failing to provide IPO financing for the Nykaa IPO.
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The notice has sought compensation of Rs 1 lakh cost incurred on the legal notice, besides loss in the form of potential gains arising from subscribing shares worth Rs 500 crore in the company.
Last year unicorn became Bharatpe
Grover’s fintech company BharatPe, founded in 2018, became a unicorn last year. Grover’s BharatPe has also forayed into banking after acquiring the troubled Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) in a joint venture with Centrum Financial Services in 2021. The JV got the small finance bank license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October last year.
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