News Update

Ousted BharatPe Co-founder Criticizes Company’s Social Media Approach Amid Controversy

• ByStartupStory     |    May 15, 2023

Ashneer Grover, the ousted co-founder and managing director of fintech firm BharatPe, recently took to social media to voice his criticism regarding the company’s decision to limit or switch off comments on its social media profiles. Grover’s remarks come amidst an ongoing dispute between the two parties, marked by a series of controversies and public spats.

In a post on BharatPe, Grover expressed his discontent with the company’s decision to disable comments, stating, “BharatPe is special! Its management under Rajnish Kumar is a class act (will become management case study).” He went on to highlight that BharatPe is the only Indian unicorn that has completely switched off its comments section across platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for the past 15 months, since Grover’s departure from the company. He invited others to try and leave comments to experience it firsthand.

Grover continued, “Aisa kaun karta hai bhai? Basically dhande ki lagi hui hai – but investors junta tak kuchh pahuch hi nahi rahi customer voice and reality on the ground” (Who does this? Basically, the business is in doldrums, and the voice of the customer and reality is not reaching the investor community).

https://twitter.com/Ashneer_Grover/status/1657966529474969600?t=gUaPayt_GsdUqqQoBjejOw&s=19
BharatPe has disabled comments on LinkedIn, selectively limited comments on Twitter, and restricted comments on Instagram.

Grover’s recent comments come after the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed a First Information Report (FIR) against him and his family based on a complaint from BharatPe. The FIR includes accusations against Ashneer’s brother, Deepak Gupta, former head of procurement at BharatPe, as well as Madhuri Jain’s brother, Shewetank Jain, and father, Suresh Jain. The accused face eight counts of serious cognizable criminal offenses, which could result in up to 10 years of imprisonment if found guilty.

In response, BharatPe welcomed the EOW’s action, stating that Grover has been conducting a vicious and malicious campaign against the company, its board, and its employees.

Earlier, Grover had also criticized Rajnish Kumar, the former Chairman of State Bank of India, whom he held responsible for the devaluation of BharatPe. In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Grover referred to the company as a “$3 billion write-off whose value has been destroyed by Rajnish Kumar.” He expressed regret for hiring Kumar, calling it a mistake.

In a recent social media post, Grover mentioned his plans to write a book titled “Corporate Ranjish,” a play on Rajnish Kumar’s name. The word “ranjish” translates to “vendetta” in English. Additionally, Grover shared his intention to create a board game called “Doglapan – The Board (err bored) Game,” which would combine elements of chess and Monopoly, priced at Rs 810.

After stupendous success of Doglapan – The Book, I am now creating:

Doglapan – The Board (err bored) Game.
A game of corporate ‘Ranjish’ !

It’s a combination of Chess and Monopoly. It’ll be an ode to the number 81 (get the reference huh huh ?)

– It’ll be played on 9×9 grid… pic.twitter.com/XJ5QOOxiEx

— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) May 14, 2023

BharatPe, co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, aimed to build a fintech platform for small merchants. The company achieved unicorn status in 2021, becoming the 19th Indian unicorn after securing $370 million in its Series E funding round, led by Tiger Global.

As the controversy between BharatPe and its ousted co-founder continues, industry observers eagerly await further developments in this ongoing saga.

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