BharatPe’s co-founder Ashneer Grover landed in controversy after audio clips of him threatening an employee came to light. Ashneer was recently seen as a shark on Shark Tank India.
Ashneer completed his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 2006. He has worked as a vice president at Kotak Mahindra Bank, after which he joined American Express. In 2015, he founded Grofers and worked as the company’s chief financial officer. In 2018, he co-founded BharatPe.
Risk advisory firm Alvarez and Marsal,
in their preliminary report, reportedly revealed a whole lot of recruitment inconsistencies and also many ‘fake invoices.’ Along with Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover being the center of the attraction due to recently leaked abusing audio controversy, BharatPe’s co-founder and Managing Director, Ashneer Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain, her brother, Shwetank Jain, are also involved in the analysis shared in the report.
On joining the dots, it’s stated that all the vendors in the alleged ‘fake invoices’ have a ‘Panipat connection’ as that’s the place where all of them are situated. This brings Grover’s wife into the picture as the report also states that she hails from Panipat.
The same report by Business Today also stated the cost of these fake invoices is Rs 10.97 crores, but the total expenditure displayed is Rs. 53.25 crores. It also noted that BharatPe hires employees paying recruitment fees to various consultants.
Ashneer added, “From May 2021, when the round was priced,
my merchant business today is 50% higher. I have got a bank license, which was not there then. I have built the largest P2P (peer-to-peer) platform, 12% Club, which wasn’t there. I have built PostPe, a BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) play. We have also merged PMC (Bank) in addition to getting the license. If I was running the business, I am extremely confident of doing a $6 billion valuation round.”
After reports about the alleged audio came to light, Ashneer took voluntary leave till March-end. Last week, Ashneer’s wife Madhuri Grover also reportedly went on a leave of absence.
In the ongoing investigation, it was made clear that in 5 such sample cases, employees denied being hired through the consultants, even after their joining dates were mentioned in the invoice. BharatPe’s co-founder the report also further stated that in 3 of 5 such cases, it was Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover’s wife, Madhuri Jain, who received these invoices, forwarding them to the accounts team for payments.
Alvarez and Marsal’s report also examined that these vendors were ‘sole proprietorships and not established companies. The creator of these invoices is said to be Madhuri Jain’s brother Shwetank Jain.
This also led to the reports surfacing BharatPe
to terminate Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover’s services as the CEO. He went on record in an interview with Money Control demanding 4000 crores for his reported 9.5% stake (at $6 Billion valuations) and said, “What have I done to resign? This is like execution before trial. I am the MD (managing director) and BharatPe co-founder. I run the company. If the board thinks I don’t need to be the MD and someone else should run the company, please put my Rs 4,000 crore on the table and take the key away from me,”
Ashneer Grover also added, “If you want to buy me out, you want to buy me out at the fair market value, right? In my view, the fair market value is $6 billion. Either I’ll run the company, or they buy me out. There is no third option.”
Apart from him, the show also featured Shaadi.com,
Makaan.com, and People Group founder Anupam Mittal, Sugar Cosmetics co-founder and CEO Vineeta Singh, boAt co-founder and CMO Aman Gupta, Lenskart co-founder and CEO Peyush Bansal, Emcure Pharmaceuticals executive director Namita Thapar and MamaEarth co-founder Ghazal Alagh.
Shark Tank India on Sony is an Indian version of the US reality show Shark Tank with judges like Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal, along with BharatPe’s Ashneer Grover & more who are the sharks investing in various business ideas throughout the show.
Ashneer said, “What have I done to resign?
This is like execution before trial. I am the MD (managing director). I run the company. If the board thinks I don’t need to be the MD and someone else should run the company, please put my 4,000 crores on the table and take the key away from me. If you want to buy me out, you want to buy me out at the fair market value, right? In my view, the fair market value is $6 billion. Either I’ll run the company or they buy me out; there is no third option.”
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