Amid the Ashneer Grover-BharatPe tussle, the fintech platform’s co-founder Shashvat Nakrani has written a letter to employees, saying that the whole episode is an aberration and not the norm and the company will turn this crisis into an opportunity.
Stressing that the company has to acknowledge and address the areas of improvement and the most critical is “culture” and that’s “us”.
“As you all know, Ashneer Grover, my Co-founder, is no longer associated with BharatPe as an employee, a founder, or a director of the company. Ashneer sent in his resignation late night on March 01, 2022, to the Board, minutes after receiving the agenda of the Board meeting on the findings of the PwC report,” Nakrani said in the letter seen by an interview.
“Sadly, he has also gone ahead and tried to create a false narrative about the company that we have built together with the right spirit. While the content of the inquiry report is confidential and as a board member, I am not at liberty to disclose its findings, I am proud of the fact that our board acted quickly and decisively to uphold good corporate governance, he added.
“What is important to note is that this is an aberration and not the norm.”
Ashneer has quit BharatPe as the company accused him, his wife, and their relatives of massive financial irregularities to fund their lifestyles.
Nakrani said that it is time to now stop “rumors and innuendoes from distracting us and go back to building”.
“Time to do what we have done in the past and will do best. We owe this to the fine team that works here, our shareholders and this remarkable country that helps us prosper,: he wrote.
Nakrani said that BharatPe has the trust of merchants, consumers, an outstanding team, large capital reserves and the backing of the world’s most credible investors to achieve that.
“Over the next few weeks, you will hear many exciting things we are putting in place for our brilliant team,” he announced.
The Ashneer Grover-BharatPe tussle that hogged the limelight since January has brought to the fore the need to fix corporate governance while maintaining moral integrity at the very top in the burgeoning Indian startup ecosystem.
