BharatPe conducts independent audit amid founder Ashneer Grover audio clip controversy

“The Board of BharatPe is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance at the company and is doing an independent audit of the company’s internal processes and systems,” the company said in a statement.

“BharatPe, through its legal firm, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has appointed Alvarez and Marsal, a leading management consultant and risk advisory firm to advise the Board on its recommendations,” it added.

ETtech

BharatPe, which allows shop owners to make digital payments through QR codes, has come under intense media scrutiny after an expletive-laced conversation allegedly between cofounder Ashneer Grover and a Kotak Mahindra Bank leaked earlier this month on microblogging site Twitter.

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Grover said the audio clip was fake and subsequently sought damages from Uday Kotak, head of Kotak Mahindra Bank, alleging that the bank declined financing for a personal investment.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has in turn alleged that Grover has used “foul” and threatening language with a company employee and reserved the right to take appropriate legal action against him.

Grover has taken leave from BharatPe until the end of March as a result of the furore generated by his dispute with Kotak.

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As questions swirled around Grover’s language and behaviour,
an email exchange surfaced between him and the fintech firm’s investor Sequoia Capital India, further intensifying the scrutiny on the entrepreneur, ET reported on January 19.

As per a communication ET has reviewed, Grover had an altercation with Sequoia India’s Harshjit Sethi in August 2020 wherein the BharatPe founder allegedly used expletives over the course of the conversation.

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“Messages and threats from you (Grover) over the last few days and months have been hurtful and disappointing… Specifically we have heard your message of not wanting us on the cap table […] We need to have a decisive conversation about how the relationship between Sequoia and BharatPe changes going forward,” Sethi wrote in a mail to Grover in August 2020.

The disagreements between Sethi and Grover began after BharatPe’s Series B funding was delayed due to Sequoia not committing to the round. People familiar with the incident said that Sequoia had also raised concerns about Grover wanting to partially sell shares in a secondary transaction. This resulted in creating friction between Sequoia and Grover, which eventually led to the mail exchange.