Indian payments firm BharatPe to overhaul governance framework, sack several employees
Reuters
Published May 10, 2022 03:06AM ET
Updated May 10, 2022 03:25AM ET
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian payments startup BharatPe said on Tuesday its board had recommended several measures, following a corporate governance review, including termination of several employees and vendors and filing criminal cases against them for misconduct.
IPO-hopeful BharatPe, which allows shop owners to make digital payments through QR codes, had initiated a corporate governance review in January hoping to soothe investor worries over a public spat involving personal investments by one of its co-founders.
The firm, which competes with apps including SoftBank's Paytm and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Pay in India's booming payments market, came under intense investor and media scrutiny after co-founder Ashneer Grover sought damages from Uday Kotak, head of Kotak Mahindra Bank, alleging that the bank declined him financing for a personal investment.
In January, Reuters had reported that the audit would assess if BharatPe's senior executives are making proper internal disclosures about personal investments and check for conflicts, leading to a new code of conduct.
After a detailed review of a report to determine wilful misconduct and gross negligence by a former founder over the last two months, the board of BharatPe has recommended several decisive measures that are being implemented, the firm said in a statement.
BharatPe said it was introducing a new vendor procurement policy to mitigate any risk of employees indulging in suspicious transactions to enrich themselves, adding that it has terminated the services of several employees in departments who were directly involved with blocked vendors.
"Many vendors involved in malpractices, such as incorrect or inflated invoices, have been blocked for further business with the company... the company has already issued legal notices to these vendors to recover the amount and will be filing civil or criminal cases against them in the coming days," BharatPe added.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.