BharatPe appoints ex-SBI Cards executive Aparna Kuppuswamy as chief risk officer

Aparna Kuppuswamy will be leading the risk portfolio across the BharatPe Group of companies, including the merchant and consumer businesses (Photo: BharatPe)

BharatPe Group on February 20 announced that it has appointed Aparna Kuppuswamy, ex-SBI Cards senior executive, as the company's Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in what was another top-level move into the company from the State Bank of India (SBI). Earlier in October 2021, former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar joined the fintech unicorn as non-executive chairman.

Kuppuswamy will be leading the risk portfolio across the BharatPe Group of companies, including the merchant and consumer businesses. She will be working closely with the CFO and interim CEO, Nalin Negi, to further build a robust lending vertical at BharatPe, the fintech unicorn said in a statement. Notably, Negi was also brought in from SBI Cards in August, last year.

Amit Jain, who is currently the CRO, will be working closely with her and will be investing more of his time on collections and underwriting, from a merchant standpoint, Bharatpe added.

Prior to joining BharatPe, Kuppuswamy was the Chief Risk Officer at SBI Cards for over 14 years, where she led a number of key projects. BharatPe stated that under Kuppuswamy's leadership, the company’s portfolio grew by more than 20 times. She was also a part of the leadership team that took SBI Cards public. Her educational qualifications show that she is a Masters in Finance & Control from the University of Delhi.

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Commenting on the appointment, Nalin Negi, CFO and interim CEO, BharatPe said, “ Aparna with her in-depth understanding of all facets of risk strategy, credit policy and portfolio management, as well as extensive industry and product knowledge, will play a vital role in the next phase of our growth story as well as helping us in becoming IPO ready. Additionally, Aparna’s understanding of the consumer side of financial services will help us build cutting-edge products that are not only relevant, but also are risk aversive.”

Kuppuswamy added, “I am really excited to be a part of the promising organization and spearhead the risk and credit strategy for the BharatPe Group of companies. I look forward to working with the team to build new products, that will make a huge impact on millions of unbanked and underserved businesses and play a key role in making India a truly Digital economy.”

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Last month, Moneycontrol has reported that BharatPe appointed three top executives in compliance and corporate governance roles --Ambuj Bhalla as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Rahul Bhatia as Head of Internal Audit, and Ravinder Oberoi as Head of Compliance.

However, BharatPe does not have a full-time CEO yet after Suhail Sameer had stepped down as the company’s chief executive officer and the company commenced a search for an executive to take on the role. In the interim, Chief Financial Officer Nalin Negi has taken on the role of CEO.

Top-level exits

Earlier on November 28, four of BharatPe’s senior executives exited to pursue their entrepreneurial interests, including chief technology officer Vijay Aggarwal, chief product officer for lending and consumer products Rajat Jain, and Nehul Malhotra, head of consumer lending platform PostPe.

Geetanshu Singla, who served as the Vice President of technology too has moved on, the company added.

The exit came in a year when Tiger Global and Sequoia-backed BharatPe saw the controversial exit of founder Ashneer Grover. Grover’s exit was followed by co-founder Bhavik Koladiya leaving the company in April. Koladiya later became CEO of fintech SaaS platform OTPless.