In a major development coming from the business world, leading fintech giant BharatPe's Co-Founder Ashneer Grover stepped down from Managing Director post on Monday midnight ahead of the crucial boarding meeting which was slated to take place on Tuesday. Ashner Grover's resignation comes after BharatPe sacked his wife Madhuri Jain Grover for alleged financial irregularities ranging from producing fake invoices to billing the company for personal beauty treatment and trips abroad. Notably, Ashneer Grover was one of the investors in the widely acclaimed show 'Shark Tank India'.
Ashneer Grover's resignation saga started when he appeared as a Shark in the show Shark Tank India. Ashneer's 'to the face' attitude earned him a lot of praise, however, that particular behavior also earned him a lot of criticism on social media. In fact, he indulged in a bidding war against other sharks during the Shark Tank Show. The criticism of Ashneer was initiated on social media for his 'harsh' comments on the entrepreneurs when he did not like the idea. Even one of his lines in Shark Tank India 'Ye sab doglapan hai' became meme material for the netizens.
However, Ashneer's fame from Shark Tank turned into a nightmare after a purported audio clip went viral and exposed a huge fight between him and the Kotak Mahindra Bank. After the audio clip went viral, Kotak Mahindra released a statement and stated that it will take legal action against the couple for their abusive language against its staff. However, the allegation was denied by Grover. In a tweet, he deleted later, had called it fake audio by "some scamster trying to extort funds ($2,40,000 bitcoins)" and added that he "refused to buckle".
However, the purported audio clip turned out to be a final nail in the coffin as Ashnner went on a sabbatical along with his wife Madhuri for introspection.
Why Ashneer Grover resigned from BharatPe's MD ahead of the Board meeting?
As per IANS, the Board was set to grill Ashneer over the PWC report regarding his conduct and take action based on it, which was to ultimately sack him. The sources confirmed that the PwC 'governance review' had found financial wrongdoings at Ashneer's ends too. Sensing what was coming his way, Ashneer decided to shoot off an emotionally-charged and lengthy resignation to the Board on Monday midnight, in a bid to salvage his image before the damage was done.
Ashneer Grover's resignation letter to BharatPe
In a letter addressed to the BharatPe board, Ashneer Grover said, "I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I've been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect."
He also stated that "from being celebrated as the face of Indian entrepreneurship he is now wasting his time fighting a long, lonely battle against his own investors and management. Unfortunately, in this battle, the management has lost what is actually at stake – BharatPe."