Mumbai, October 12, 2021 : BharatPe, India’s fastest growing Fintech company, today announced the appointment of Rajnish Kumar on its Board. Rajnish Kumar, one of the most respectable names in the banking industry in India and erstwhile Chairman of SBI, will also be the Chairman of Board.
Rajnish will be involve in defining the Company’s short-term and long-term strategy, and also will work closely with the other Board Members and CXOs on key business and regulatory initiatives.
He will also advice and counsel the Management on matters around business performance as well as corporate governance.
Rajnish Kumar is one of the most respectable names in the Indian banking industry. An industry veteran, he has held the position of Chairman of the State Bank of India. He became the Chairman of State of Bank of India in October 2017 and ended his three-year term in October 2020. He has also served as Managing Director (National Banking Group), and the Managing Director (Compliance & Risk) of SBI.
The senior bank official previously also headed the SBI Capital Markets Limited (the Merchant Banking arm of State Bank of India) as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, prior to becoming Managing Director in SBI. He is also an independent non-executive director at HSBC Bank, Asia and L&T Infotech.
Commenting on the appointment, Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director, BharatPe said, “It is a matter of great validation and pride for us that one of the biggest stalwarts of the Indian Banking Industry has agreed to join BharatPe as the Chairman of the Board.
We look forward to invaluable guidance from Rajnish Kumar as we build India’s largest digital credit provider. We are confident that under his able guidance, BharatPe will attain newer heights and build the best-in-class Fintech for the new India.”
Added Rajnish Kumar, “In just 3 years, BharatPe has come a long way in becoming a trusted name in the financial services industry. It has redefined payments with its products like interoperable QR and has also emerged as the largest B2B lender in the industry.
This company has a huge opportunity ahead and it would be great to work closely with its young and talented team to build financial services for the India of tomorrow.”
About BharatPe
BharatPe was co-found by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision of making financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. In 2018, BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, the first zero MDR payment acceptance service. In 2020, post-Covid, BharatPe also launched India’s only zero MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe.
Currently serving over 70 lakh merchants across 140+ cities, the company is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing 11 crores+ UPI transactions per month (annualized Transaction Processed Value of US$ 11+ Bn).
The company has already facilitated disbursement of loans totaling to over Rs. 2,200 crores to its merchants, since launch. BharatPe’s POS business processes payments of over Rs. 1,400 crores/ month. BharatPe has raised close to US$ 600 million in equity and debt, till date.
The company’s list of marquee investors includes Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital. In June 2021, the company announced the acquisition of PAYBACK India, the country’s largest multi-brand loyalty program company with 100 million+ members.
In June 2021, it was also given an in-principle approval by Reserve Bank of India to establish a Small Finance Bank, in partnership with Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), the establishe and profitable NBFC arm of the Centrum Group.
