The Reasons behind BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover Resignation
In the midst of continuous conflict at the company, Ashneer Grover, the co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, has left the fintech company. Grover’s resignation email began,”I write this with a sorrowful heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder,” and it ended.” The decision was taken just a few days after he had lost an arbitration, he had brought with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre(SIAC) to challenge the fintech’s decision to open an inquiry into him.
One of India’s most well-known fintech organisations got entangled in the scandal after an audio clip of Grover allegedly abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee appeared online.
“I can proudly state that this business is currently a fintech industry leader. The managing director of BharatPe wrote in his letter to the board, “Unfortunately, since the beginning of 2022, I have become the target of baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a small number of people who are prepared to harm not only me and my reputation but also the reputation of the company, which they are ostensibly trying to protect.
“Instead of being honoured as the face of Indian entrepreneurship and serving as an example for Indian youngsters to start their own enterprises, I now waste my time fighting a long, lonesome war against my own investors and management. Unfortunately, the management has squandered the opportunity to protect BharatPe, which is the real issue here, he continued.
A timeline of the BharatPe-Ashneer Grover controversy
An employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank was verbally abused by a man who was purported to be Ashneer Grover earlier this year after the bank missed out on the initial public offering (IPO) allotment for Nykaa. The phone conversation went viral.
The managing director of BharatPe first claimed in a message on a social media platform that the audio was “false.” He later deleted the tweet. Kotak Mahindra Bank has allegedly filed a complaint against Ashneer Grover and his wife for using “inappropriate language” towards their employees.
Grover took a “voluntary leave of absence” on January 19 that lasted till the end of March. At the time, he stated that he will return “on or before April 1.”
After ten days, the BharatPe Board declared that an independent audit of its internal systems and processes will begin. A renowned management consulting and risk advising firm, Alvarez and Marsal, was also hired to assist the board on the proposals.
Inconsistencies in relations with vendors were discovered, according to the preliminary report by risk advisory firm Alvarez and Marsal done in January.
Grover said repeatedly that the governance evaluation was filled with bias. He requested that Suhail Sameer, the chief operational officer, be removed from the board in a letter to the BharatPe board.
Grover’s ongoing settlement negotiations with the fintech company and its owners began earlier in February, according to sources, and he requested indemnification(compensation) from any subsequent legal action taken against him.
Madhuri Jain Grover, the company’s head of controls and Ashneer’s wife, was fired by the BharatPe board last week on the basis of claims of financial misappropriation.
The fact that you’ve even lost touch with the founder is unfortunate. For you, the company’s founder has been reduced to a button that may be clicked as needed. For you, I stopped being a human. Grover wrote in his letter, “Today, instead of having an open discussion with me, you have decided to believe in rumours and slander about me.
The truth is that you currently think I have fulfilled my purpose, so I am only turning into a liability. And given that the investor blueprint for getting rid of a founder who is unwelcome is to turn them into the antagonist of the story, that is exactly what you have done. He further stated, “Today I am being insulted and treated in the most disgraceful manner.
