Ashneer Grover is the Managing Director and co-founder at BharatPe. He co-founded the company along with Shashvat Nakrani in 2018. Within four years, they have turned BharatPe into one of the largest used payment apps in India. Ashneer Grover can now be seen in the judging panel of the Shark Tank India reality show. His net worth is 700 crores.
Though Ashneer Grover had a good start in terms of education, career and business, he also faced multiple challenges in the journey. This article discusses the complete story of Ashneer Grover right from his early life and career to the controversies and challenges faced by him recently.
Ashneer Grover - Biography
Ashneer Grover - Personal Life
Ashneer Grover - Education
Ashneer Grover - Initial Career
Ashneer Grover - Founding BharatPe
Ashneer Grover - Controversies and Challenges Faced
Ashneer Grover - FAQs
Ashneer Grover - Biography
| Name | Ashneer Grover |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1982 |
| Birth Place | Delhi |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Age | 39 (2021) |
| Education | IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad |
| Position | Founder and MD, BharatPe |
| Net Worth | Rs 700 crores |
Ashneer Grover - Personal Life
Ashneer Grover was born in Delhi on June 14, 1982. His father was a Charted Accountant and his mother a teacher. As the parents were into a good profession, the family was doing well. He got graduated from well-reputed institutes like IIT and IIM.
Ashneer Grover was married to Madhuri Jain Grover. She’s an entrepreneur and owns a furnishing business named Mauve and Brown in Delhi. Madhuri Grover now takes care of HR, finance and other internal operations in BharatPe. This couple has two children.
Ashneer Grover - Education
Ashneer Grover completed his schooling in Delhi. He then graduated B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). During his time in IIT Delhi, he was selected for a student exchange program with the National Institute of Applied Sciences, also known as INSA Lyon, in France. It is one of the largest and finest engineering schools in Europe.
He moved to INSA Lyon in 2002 with a scholarship of €6,000 from the French Embassy. After graduating from IIT, Grover went to the India Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad for his MBA in Finance. He graduated from the IIM in 2006.
Ashneer Grover - Initial Career
Kotak Finance Banking selected Ashneer Grover as the Vice President through campus placements from IIM. He has been a part of Kotak for almost 7 years since 2006.
In mid-2013, Ashneer joined American Express (AmEx), a payment card services company, and worked for two years. He was designated as the Director of Corporate Development in AmEx. After leaving American Express in 2015, Ashneer became the Chief Financial Officer in Grofers. The company is now called Blinkit.
Later in 2017, PC Jewellers took Ashneer as the Head of New Business, where he worked for exactly a year. Then by 2018, Ashneer Grover established his own company BharatPe.
Sourav Dey
Ashneer Grover - Founding BharatPe
After accumulating 12 years of experience from multiple jobs, Ashneer Grover decided to start his own business. His experience as the head of business development and payments in PC Jewellers sparked the idea of starting a payments company. Ashneer joined hands with Shashvat Nakrani to establish BharatPe in 2018.
Together they built the fintech company from scratch and added several services to its core operation. Today, BharatPe offers UPI Payments, QR codes for transactions, POS machines for card payments, an investment and loan app called 12% Club and digital gold transactions.
They also got approval from the RBI for small business financing in collaboration with Centrum Financial Services Ltd. By offering diverse services, Ashneer Grover has made BharatPe one of the most used payments apps in the country.
Ashneer Grover - Controversies and Challenges Faced
BharatPe, as a company, got into a controversy when it labelled itself as nationalistic and the competitors as Non-Indian companies. The company issued pamphlets citing such details to the public. So the competitors filed a lawsuit against BharatPe and reported the same with the RBI.
Another controversy arose when PhonePe and BharatPe fought for the word ‘Pe’ in their respective names. PhonePe has filed a case against the latter in Delhi High Court. It was later disposed of by the same.
A major controversy faced by Ashneer Grover was about a recent audio clip leak on Twitter. It is claimed that Grover used inappropriate language and threatened a Kotak employee over an issue of not securing Nykaa’s IPO shares.
Before this issue could be settled, the company’s board raised accusations against Ashneer and his wife. The board accused them of initiating fraudulent transactions against non-existing vendors. They also reported irregularities in invoices.
The audio issue forced him to stay away from the company and take a temporary leave for three months. Now, after the discovery of financial irregularities, the board demands the permanent exit of Ashneer Grover from the company. Grover responded that he was happy to leave his role in BharathPe but would always stay as a shareholder and a founder.
With pressure mounting up on Ashneer Grover to leave BharatPe, he has strongly criticized the CEO Suhail Sameer. He said that Sameer manipulated and arm-twisted him to exit the company. Grover has demanded huge compensation, Rs. 4000 crores for his withdrawal from BharatPe. But it’s been reported that the board is unlikely to agree with it.
Conclusion
The story of Ashneer Grover enunciates that however successful you are, problems and challenges are part and parcel of life. The way you overcome them has the power to define who you are.
Despite the accusations made against him by the board, one can never disagree with the effort and time Ashneer Grover invested in the growth of BharatPe. And now, we can hope that any decision he takes during this time of crisis will also be for the best of the company.
Ashneer Grover - FAQs
Who is the founder of BharatPe?
Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani are the founders of BharatPe.
Who is the CEO of BharatPe?
Suhail Sameer is the CEO of the company since August 2020.
What are the qualifications of Ashneer Grover?
He graduated B.Tech from IIT Delhi and MBA in Finance from IIM Ahmedabad.
What is the issue with BharatPe’s board and Ashneer Grover?
The board accused Grover and his wife of making fraudulent transactions and irregular maintenance of invoices.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Bharath Date :- February 05, 2022 at 11:48PM