2022 Year in Review | The Ashneer Grover-BharatPe saga

Synopsis On February 23, BharatPe sacked Madhuri Jain, the company’s financial controller and Grover’s wife, on charges of misappropriating funds. Jain had been in charge of BharatPe’s finances since October 2018. ETtech Fintech company BharatPe and its outspoken founder Ashneer Grover were in the news almost every day in 2022 Fintech company BharatPe and its outspoken founder Ashneer Grover were in the news almost every day in the few months of 2022.

Here’s a look back at the controversy that led to Grover quitting the first startup he cofounded in 2018. Viral audio clip: On January 5, 2022, a Twitter user by the name of @BongoBabu tweeted a Soundcloud of audio recording in which BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover could allegedly be heard abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee. A couple of days later, Grover claimed in a tweet said that the audio was fake and was an attempt to extort money from him.

He later deleted the tweet. ET reported on January 12 that Kotak mahindra Bank would take legal action against Grover in an IPO financing matter, after he and his wife Madhuri Jain sent a notice to the bank in October 2021 for failing to provide them financing to invest in Nykaa’s initial public offering. On January 20, an email exchange between Grover and Sequoia India employee Harshjit Sethi surfaced, in which Grover allegedly used several expletives over the course of the conversation.

Internal audit and investigations: On January 19, Grover, then managing director of BharatPe, went on ‘voluntary’ leave until the end of March. “I plan to take a temporary leave of absence from BharatPe till March-end. I will return on or before April 1, 2022,” he said.

Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories On January 29, BharatPe announced it had appointed Alvarez & Marsal to conduct an independent audit . A day later, Grover announced that he had hired a law firm amid mounting pressure from the board to leave the company, but added that he expected an amicable resolution. On February 4, reports emerged that a preliminary audit report, dated January 24, found evidence of fraudulent transactions in recruitment and payments to non-existent vendors.

Hours later, it is revealed that Grover had written to board members on February 2, asking them to remove CEO Suhail Sameer from the board. On February 22, Grover sought protection from any future action against him as part of his settlement, sources told ET. Sackings and resignations: On February 23, BharatPe sacked Madhuri Jain , the company’s financial controller and Grover’s wife, on charges of misappropriating funds .

Jain had been in charge of BharatPe’s finances since October 2018. Grover resigned from BharatPe and its board at midnight on March 1. “You treat us founders as slaves – pushing us to build multi-billion-dollar businesses and cutting us down at will.

[The] investor-founder relationship in India is one of master-slave,” Grover wrote in his resignation letter. “I am the rebel slave who must be hung by the tree so none of the other slaves can dare to be like me ever again,” he added. Grover, in an exclusive chat with ET, said he had lost management shares worth Rs 100 crore as a result of his resignation.

Back and forth: The final report of the internal governance review undertaken by BharatPe and its board found Grover and his family members guilty of fraud , the company said in a statement on March 2. BharatPe added that Grover and his family members engaged in extensive misappropriation of funds and syphoned money away from the company’s accounts. On April 7, Grover and BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer got into a spat on LinkedIn, in which Sameer accused Grover of stealing the company’s money, a statement for which he later apologised.

On April 8, ET reported that Grover had asked for the company’s financial details , access to which was denied to him by the CEO. HC summons the Grovers: On December 8, the Delhi High Court issued a summons to Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain, and their family members over a suit filed by the fintech firm. BharatPe filed both civil and criminal suits against the defendants, in addition to a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

Grover, Jain and her brother Shwetank Jain, her sister’s husband Deepak Gupta, and her father Suresh Jain are the five defendants in the suit. On December 9, BharatPe filed an arbitration to claw back Grover’s restricted shareholding and founder title, sources told ET. The arbitration was filed under Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) rules.

Grover holds about 8. 5% of the company and 1. 4% of his shares are not vested.

Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here! ( Originally published on Dec 30, 2022 ) Saturday, 31 Dec, 2022 Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way! Read Complete Print Edition » Front Page Pure Politics Economy Companies More Indices Tumble on Last Day, But D St Stands Tall in 2022 Shares ended in the red on the last trading day of 2022, but India emerged as one of the top performing equity markets in a year when most others were knocked down by the US central bank’s aggressive monetary tightening to combat record-high inflation. It’s Back to Basics for Cos in 2023 after Year of the Big Quit From attrition, India Inc’s focus will shift to growing talent pool, better engagement.

Year-end Discounts to Push Dec Retail Car Sales to Record 400k Retail sales of passenger vehicles (PVs) in India are set to hit a record in December, driven by bumper year-end discounts before an anticipated increase in prices and evident dealer urgency to clear inventory ahead of scheduled introduction of tighter emission norms. Read More News on BharatPe Ashneer Grover bharatpe ashneer grover madhuri jain kotak mahindra bank misappropriating funds Suhail Sameer Economic Offences Wing Sequoia India kotak mahindra bank Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.

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