A significant development in the Indian tech landscape is that Binny Bansal, the cofounder of Flipkart, has resigned from the board of directors of PhonePe. This development marks Bansal’s complete exit from another Walmart-owned company, after his earlier exit from Flipkart in January 2024. Bansal had joined the board of PhonePe when Flipkart bought the digital payments platform in 2016, and his resignation comes after PhonePe separated from Flipkart in December 2022.
PC: Red Newswire
A Transition for Bansal
The exit of Bansal from PhonePe presents a watershed transition in the career of the one who builds away from the companies he led to major positions in India’s digital economy. His exit comes after a string of success while working at Flipkart, where he worked hand-in-hand with his fellow co-founder Sachin Bansal as they helped shape the e-commerce landscape in India. The resignation is seen as a strategic step for Bansal, given an opportunity to explore new ventures and prospects beyond past associations.
New Direction at PhonePe
Following the resignation of Bansal, the board of directors of PhonePe too is set to undergo changes. The company has appointed Manish Sabharwal as the company’s Independent Director and Chair of its Audit Committee. Sabharwal, Vice-Chairman of TeamLease Services—the largest staffing and human capital firm in India—joins with ample experience. He has experience working as an Independent Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and as a member of the Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder of PhonePe, is confident that Sabharwal has the scope to understand India’s macroeconomic and lead in terms of policymaking in education and employment. This appointment by PhonePe points out the fact that they are taking governance and risk management processes seriously on their growth trajectory.
Financial Performance and Growth
PhonePe has been growing its services beyond digital payments into insurance, lending, and even wealth management. The firm has also diversified into consumer technology with Pincode and Indus App Store. For the fiscal year that ended in March 2024, PhonePe recorded a sensational increase of 73.8% in revenue from operations, which reached ₹5,064 crore. And since then, net losses have shrunk by 28.6% to ₹1,996 crore against the prior fiscal’s net loss of ₹2,795 crore.
These financial numbers show a robust growth path for PhonePe as the company continues to build out its product offerings and expand its market footprint. The company’s strategy of diversifying away from its core business is well-suited to the competitive nature of digital payments in India.
Binny Bansal’s resignation from PhonePe’s board marks an interesting chapter in his career and more broadly, the tale of Indian entrepreneurship. With Bansal stepping away from companies that have made such huge imprints in the tech industry, interest in whatever he has to offer in the near future is high. PhonePe, meanwhile, seems well-positioned for its own future growth and innovating in the digital payments space-the company’s strategic appointments and solid financial performance indicate just that. As Bansal and PhonePe look to start new chapters, the changes will be carefully watched in the horizon-shifting Indian business landscape.
