Have nothing to hide, open to publishing my financial assets publicly: Ashneer Grover

Grover was defiant, saying he had taken the decision to exit the $2.8-billion fintech startup as he did not want to continue the public corporate drama. He called the ongoing governance review and audit of the company a “witch hunt” that he did not want to be a part of anymore.

In a scathing remark about BharatPe’s investors, Grover said it was surprising they had not spoken about any financial fraud or irregularities while conducting diligence on the company before investing in it.

ETtech Exclusive: BharatPe Co-Founder Ashneer Grover on how he was pushed to resign

In an exclusive interview with ETtech Editor Samidha Sharma, BharatPe Co-Founder Ashneer Grover talks about the circumstances that led to his resignation from the company. Watch

Edited excerpts:

Why did you decide to resign now? Were you preempting some board action against you, considering your resignation came minutes after the board meeting agenda was sent?


I’ve been pained by the way things have been happening. My view is that even if you have a dispute with someone, you have to sit down and thrash it out. You can’t be running the process, which is supposedly a ‘confidential process’, but everything gets leaked, to the extent of board minutes… I get to learn on appointments (of consultants and lawyers) from the media first, before it even comes as a resolution to be passed by the board.

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Even the investigation report is leaked and out in the public, which doesn’t even carry the basic element of confidentiality. All they (BharatPe) have done is a non-confidential review.

I am the single largest shareholder of BharatPe. I resigned for the company and for the employees and it would have been wrong for me to not ‘stay away’. And there’s a value to my stake.

What about the timing of the resignation?

The fact that you know the board meeting is today means everything is leaked… The letter is coming from a position of ‘pain’ and I have been writing it for the past three days. I was clear that I would send it on Monday night. The BharatPe board is preempting what I’m doing, not the other way around. The board agenda came in at 11:54 pm last night so what preempted the board to hold a meeting at such a short notice… The board meeting is at 7:30 pm today.

Please ask Rajnish Kumar what made him call a board meeting at 11:30 pm. Was that because he had to take instructions from his ‘masters’ in the US? Is BharatPe board a call centre with clients in the US? If you already know you want to hit out at someone, what [can] I say?

What was the impact of SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) quashing your emergency plea?


The SIAC plea is a confidential matter and I will not comment on it.

Going forward, what will your relationship be like with BharatPe now that you’ve resigned? Will you be taking any legal action?


Why should I fight these people in court? I am very clear that I will build my next big thing and it will be 100% owned by Ashneer Grover. It will take time, but I will own my company. My time is best spent in building things and not fighting.

I will continue to be the single largest shareholder in BharatPe.

What is your message to the board?


I’m challenging the board to televise the board meeting on national television. I don’t have to hide anything… I am open to publishing my financial assets, my liabilities, all my holdings, all my bank account statements in the newspaper. And this is not just me, but for my wife (Madhuri Jain) and family members. Will Shailendra (Singh, Sequoia Capital) and Rajnish Kumar open their bank statements?

Why have you consistently said that the governance review put in place by the board is a charade?


You could have run the process in a confidential manner, right? What made you (the board) run it like a public process in the first place? Because there’s nothing against me and you have to create this whole narrative to the point that people start believing falsehoods. I have run processes, and this is not a process, it is a witch hunt. And now it is up to me that I’m not a part of this witch hunt any longer. That a governance review magically overnight becomes a ‘conflict of interest’ case.

The agenda of the process is to hit out at Ashneer Grover and that’s the clear cry coming from Rajnish Kumar’s house. I have it in an email that Shashvat (Nakrani), Suhail (Sameer) and Bhavik (Koladiya) were sitting in Kumar’s house when the call came.

Bhavik (Koladiya) is not a part of the company, according to the board. So why did he call me?

(Note: On February 22, Grover had informed the board of a phone call between Koladiya and himself. He had alleged that the call was abusive and made from Kumar’s residence.)


Why haven’t you taken the offer to speak to BharatPe’s board?


Not a single investor has spoken to me since I’ve gone on a leave of absence. I’ve held three conversations with Rajnish (Kumar), before my resignation… Sequoia Capital had reached out to me through their lawyer and called me for a meeting in Mumbai to ‘amicably’ close things, but then they cancelled it.

What has led to the souring of your relationship with the board?


This is a standard template and what I call the “ founder’s curse”. You want a person to go against all the odds and build a business. Now, when markets in the US start falling and go into a bear phase, you are suddenly ‘free’ and want to get your house in order. There’s a rumour on Twitter and you’re spooked now, so you want to take control and solve things, suddenly.

You have invested in a company whose financials have been audited by Deloitte every year, and in each of the six rounds there has been a ‘diligence process’. So now you’re saying that financial audits and six diligence processes within the company are worthless. So why did you waste my time?

The board did not take well to your public demand for Rs 4,000 crore as part of a settlement to leave BharatPe. What is the right move?


What have I said wrong? Have I disclosed anything confidential? You take my equity and calculate it against the last valuation of the company, it is the same number. And I’m not doing an audit on BharatPe or putting out an allegation, the board is.

In hindsight, the relationship with BharatPe’s board was of abuse.

Was Madhuri Jain’s involvement in the company’s finances a point of contention with shareholders and the board? She was sacked last week on charges of misappropriation of funds.


Madhuri was a part of BharatPe and the board even before I joined. She signed my joining letter before the company had raised any institutional funding… and she gave way for these so called ‘professional investors’ to come on board. The company has executed six diligence processes at various stages of investors coming in. There was a full organisation chart. Were the investors sleeping at the wheel then?

All related parties have disclosed, and now since she’s related to me, you have started this insane narrative that there’s something wrong. It is clear that the board is a male chauvinistic board.

So, according to you, why was she terminated by the company?


Will BharatPe ever accept that those interim leaked findings are part of the final report? They will never do that, since their entire narrative will fall apart.

In her termination letter, BharatPe has said she has taken ‘laser beauty treatment’, alleging she’s getting these services on company’s funds. But she has paid the bill on her own. The bill for her skin issue, for which she went to a dermatologist, is lying in the office which they’ve retrieved as we have been shut out of the office.

That bill has never been put on the company’s books or been reimbursed. The company has rummaged through her personal belongings in the office and created this lie of the bill.

BharatPe did not put across a single bill or paper for her to comment on while questioning her in person.

You have repeatedly pointed at Rajnish Kumar for not running a fair review. Why is that, considering you brought him on to BharatPe’s board?


Let me clear a few things. Rajnish Kumar is not an independent director. And the press has been fed the wrong news. He carries Esops (stock options) in the company. Independent directors cannot hold Esops. I have some 100 messages with Rajnish Kumar about how things are getting leaked. Why? Because the board has told me to speak to Rajnish but he has no answer and he says it’s a ‘big organisation’ (hence the leaks).

If he can run confidentiality in State Bank of India, you’re telling me he cannot run a process which is confidential in a company for a single month? Either you’re complicit or incompetent, and I’m on the receiving end.

Will you be selling your stake at BharatPe eventually?

I’m a businessman and create money from what I’ve built. Whether I sell it or hold on to it is a function of what is happening with that asset. If the value erodes, then I’ll make a decision to sell. And it [will be] a commercial decision.