Fire in the dream factory

Boards at startups need to be made more accountable

The ongoing crises at Paytm and Byju’s — the country’s two leading startups — point to serious governance lapses. In Paytm Payments Bank’s (PPB’s) case, the banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been citing violations of know-your-customer (KYC) norms while imposing short-term restrictions in recent years. After PPB apparently failed to put the house in order despite repeated warnings, the central bank issued an ultimatum, prohibiting any deposits, topups, and transactions linked to the company from March 15, extending the earlier deadline by a fortnight. In all this, the role of the board of directors of the