Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe board amid boardroom battle

Ashneer Grover, the embattled founder of fintech unicorn BharatPe, has resigned as the managing director and a director on the company’s board, according to a source close to the development.

Business Standard has reviewed his letter of resignation.

This comes amid a tussle in the company where Grover has found himself on the opposite side of the Board, key investors in the company and his co-founders.

“I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I’ve been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect,” Grover has written in his resignation letter.

“From being celebrated as the face of Indian entrepreneurship and an inspiration to the Indian youth to build their own businesses, I am now wasting myself fighting a long, lonely battle against my own investors and management. Unfortunately, in this battle, the management has lost of what is actually at stake – BharatPe,” he added.

Business Standard has written to the company seeking a confirmation and will update this article as soon as a response is received.

Meanwhile, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has refused to grant emergency relief to Grover from a governance review being conducted by the company, according to sources.

Earlier this month, he had filed an arbitration plea earlier this month to stop a probe into alleged financial mismanagement in the company. The BharatPe MD, who went on leave last month till March-end, is also said to be seeking indemnity against future action by the company through the plea. 

The company and Grover are also reportedly in talks to settle the matter by buying out the latter’s stake in the unicorn. Grover’s stake of 9.5 per cent in the company was worth Rs 1,915 crore based on the last funding round in August, when BharatPe was valued at $2.8 billion.

“While I maintain that you will not find a single act of impropriety against me, I will not be participating in your charade. Since you clearly believe you can run this Company better without me – I am leaving you with this challenge,” he said in his resignation letter.

“Build incrementally even half of the value I created so far – I am leaving you with three times the funds I’ve utilised till date... I will continue as the single largest individual shareholder of the company,” he added.