Former Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), Rajnish Kumar, has joined the board of Fintech firm BharatPe as its Chairman. Kumar’s activity across India’s financial division will be a priceless supplement to the board of BharatPe.
Kumar will lead the BharatPe team during the transformation into a small finance bank. He will also be included in determining the company’s short-term and long-term strategy.
“In just 3 years, BharatPe has come a long way in becoming a trusted name in the financial services industry. It has redefined payments with its products like interoperable QR and has also emerged as the largest B2B lender in the industry. This company has a huge opportunity ahead and it would be great to work closely with its young and talented team to build financial services for the India of tomorrow,” Kumar said.
Remarking on the post, Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director, BharatPe said, “It is a matter of great validation and pride for us that one of the biggest stalwarts of the Indian Banking Industry has agreed to join BharatPe as the Chairman of the Board. We look forward to invaluable guidance from Rajnish Kumar as we build India’s largest digital credit provider. We are confident that under his able guidance, BharatPe will attain newer heights and build the best-in-class Fintech for the new India.”
After four decades of service in October 2020, Kumar resigned from the country’s largest lender and was earlier designated as a non-executive director for banking giant HSBC’s Hong Kong-headquartered Asia section. Kumar was also designated as the senior advisor by Baring Private Equity Asia and an advisor to Kotak Investment Advisors.
Meanwhile, BharatPe has recently declared its venture into the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) section with ‘postpe’ and aims to promote a loan book of USD 300 million (about ₹2,245 crores) via PostPe in the first 12 months for its lending associates.
Consumers can download the ‘postpe’ app from Play Store and avail interest-free credit limit of up to ₹10 lakh. The product can also be applied for micro-purchases. PostPe is the Global Sponsor of the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in Dubai this year.
BharatPe, which had accumulated $370 million in funding (including secondary component) in August 2021 at a valuation of $2.85 billion, is backed by investors like Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Insight Partners and Sequoia Growth.