BharatPe sees more high-profile exits as Nathani resigns after Grover

After facing the months-long Ashneer Grover saga, fintech platform BharatPe is witnessing some high-profile exits and now, its founding member Satyam Nathani has resigned.

Earlier, BharatPe's chief revenue officer Nishit Sharma and head of institutional debt partnerships, Chandrima Dhar, had quit citing personal reasons.

"This is to inform that Satyam Nathani has decided to move on from BharatPe to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. We will back him to build the next big tech disruptions," the company said in a statement.

An IIT Delhi graduate, Nathani was part of the founding members and was the brain behind services like 'PostPe' and peer-to-peer lending product '12% Club'.

 

He was set to play a crucial role in Unity Small Finance Bank, a joint venture between BharatPe and Centrum Financial Services.

Last month, with an aim to leave behind the Ashneer controversy and bring business on track, BharatPe launched an investment platform for its merchant partners.

The P2P investment product is being powered through RBI regulated non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) LenDenClub and Liquiloans.

BharatPe said it is also working on providing its merchants an option to invest in fixed deposits by Unity Small Finance Bank.

"We believe that it should be the merchant who should have the power to decide which investment product and which partner he/she would like to invest with," said Suhail Sameer, CEO, BharatPe.

Earlier, the fintech platform said it has initiated necessary action against the company's former founder Ashneer to "claw back his restricted shares as per the shareholders' agreement" and will take all steps to enforce its right under the law.

As part of its corporate governance review of the company after the financial irregularities were unearthed during Ashneer and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover's time, the company found many vendors were involved in malpractices, such as incorrect or inflated invoices, who have been blocked for further business with the company.

The company terminated the services of several employees in departments who were directly involved with these blocked vendors.

Grover, along with his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, has been stripped of all company titles over alleged "extensive misappropriation of company funds" and using "company expense accounts" to "enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles".