BharatPe co-founder: Ashneer Grover creating ‘false narrative’, board upheld ‘governance’

The board of administrators of BharatPe “acted quickly and decisively to uphold good corporate governance” to take away its co-founder Ashneer Grover from all positions, the corporate’s different co-founder Shashvat Nakrani wrote in an e-mail to workers. A duplicate of the mail was reviewed by The Indian Express.

Nakrani wrote that the corporate was at an annualised whole fee quantity (TPV) run price of of $16 billion and its income was prone to rise by 4 instances within the present fiscal, in comparison with the earlier 12 months.

Accusing Grover of making a “false narrative” about BharatPe, Nakrani wrote: “What is important to note is that this is an aberration and not the norm.”

Nakrani wrote the e-mail to BharatPe workers after the corporate’s board unseated Grover from all positions within the startup on the premise of findings of a PwC audit into the corporate’s company governance practices. Nakrani, nonetheless, didn’t reveal PwC’s findings in his e mail, saying the contents of its enquiry report have been confidential. PwC was introduced in late January, following complaints of misconduct at BharatPe.

After stripping Grover of all his positions within the firm, BharatPe’s board had accused him, his spouse Madhuri Jain Grover and their family of participating in “extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company’s expense account and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles”. The firm had additionally mentioned it reserves the precise to take additional authorized motion in opposition to Grover and his household.

“Ashneer sent in his resignation late night on March 1, 2022 to the Board, minutes after receiving the agenda of the Board meeting on the findings of the PwC report,” Nakarani is learnt to have mentioned in his e mail. “Sadly, he has also gone ahead and tried to create a false narrative about the company that we have built together with the right spirit”.

Grover declined to touch upon this paper’s queries, saying, “I have better things to do”. BharatPe didn’t reply till publication.

Earlier in February, BharatPe had terminated the employment of Madhuri Jain Grover over alleged “misappropriation of funds”.

“We are at an annualised TPV (total payment volume) run rate of $16 billion (INR 1.2 lakh cr). Our merchant lending vertical is scaling up well; we have seen phenomenal growth and initial successes in postpe, and are about to cross 1,000 cr disbursals in just 5 months of launch; PAYBACK is delivering great numbers and has a lot in store,” Nakrani famous. BharatPe’s tussle with Grover and his spouse got here to mild in early January shortly after an audio clip — the place Ashneer allegedly utilizing expletives in opposition to a Kotak Bank staffer — surfaced, prompting the board to look into the corporate’s practices below Grover.

A chronic authorized battle is feasible over Grover’s stake within the firm. As of August final 12 months, he held 9.5 per cent stake within the firm, of which 1-2 per cent are restricted shares. Sources had earlier instructed The Indian Express that BharatPe’s board intends to invoke clauses from Grover’s shareholder settlement to claw again on his stake — which Grover has mentioned is price Rs 4,000 crore.