He stated that the corporation, which presently has nine directors on its board, aims to have at least one-third independent directors.
B P Kanungo, a former deputy governor of the RBI, and Kaushik Dutta, the founder of TARI, have been chosen as independent directors by fintech unicorn BharatPe in an effort to increase governance rigor and transparency in the lead-up to a listing. According to BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, “business is about to turn profitable in a few months and we are strengthening governance at the company by hiring independent directors.”
He stated that the corporation, which presently has nine directors on its board, aims to have at least one-third independent directors.
Along with Sameer, co-founder Shashvat Nakrani serves as executive director on the board. The nominations for investors are four. Rajnish Kumar, a former SBI chairman, serves as the board’s chairman.
He stated that BharatPe would aim to go public within the following two to three years. It should be a nice time after the 2024 general elections, he remarked.
Kanungo recently stepped down from his position as Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor, but Dutta is still the company’s chairman and an independent director.
The nominations, he said, “are consistent with the company’s goal to create a world-class institution and be the torchbearer of corporate governance in the start-up sector.”
BharatPe, a platform that enables merchants to accept digital payments via QR codes, is currently available in 400 locations and has surpassed USD 20 billion in annualized TPV.
Kanungo, who served as the RBI’s deputy governor from 2017 to 2021, will collaborate closely with the board and help BharatPe carry out its objective to become a high-quality, profitable company.
According to Dutta, whose leadership roles at PwC gave him substantial knowledge in corporate governance, the company would need his advice as it gets ready to go public in the next two to three years.
According to a statement from the firm, “Kewal Handa stood down from the Board but would continue to help the Board and the Management in an advising position in line with BharatPe’s commitment to establishing a Board with at least one-third independent directors.”
The recent significant appointments are motivated by this very thought, and we hope that the composition of the Board, processes, and compliances in place will result in best governance practices in the industry, according to Rajnish Kumar, who spoke about these appointments. “Earlier this year, we had put in place a robust governance framework and were in the process of identifying the right leaders who could join the Board in building BharatPe 2.0,” he said.
The two independent directors’ extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the business, regulations, and industry, according to Sameer, will be a huge help for BharatPe as it continues to develop market-disrupting solutions.
An experienced banker, Kanungo joined RBI in 1982. During his nearly four-decade tenure, he oversaw a number of central bank departments, including information technology, payment and settlement systems, foreign exchange, and internal debt management.
Dutta is one of the co-founders of Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI), a nonprofit organization that does research on sustainability, public policy, and corporate governance. Additionally, he serves on the boards of NDTV, Snapdeal, HCL Infosystems, Policy Bazaar, Zomato, and Newgen Software, all of which are well-known Indian corporations.
