Ashneer Grover says will 'rejuvenate and refresh' himself, return to BharatPe in April

Ashneer Grover, co-founder and managing director, BharatPe

Ashneer Grover will return to BharatPe's day-to-day operations in April after rejuvenating and refreshing himself, he said soon after the board announced he was taking leave of absence amid growing scrutiny and pressure regarding his abusive language to a Kotak employee.

"I will return on or before 1st April 2022. I’ll be utilising this period to rejuvenate and refresh myself for our next sprint of value creation. I expect to spend the time thinking more deeply about our next phase of product development, and BharatPe’s path to profitability and IPO. I will also double down on investing in myself personally," he said on the microblogging site.

"I am a builder and I know my energy is best spent creating value for the millions of Indians we serve each day," he added.

Grover’s fortunes have rapidly unravelled in the last two weeks, from being recognised as the founder of one of India’s hottest startups, one which became worth $3 billion in 3 years, to being squarely blamed on social media and by fellow investors and founders for all that is wrong with the Indian startup ecosystem- harsh treatment of people, large funding rounds for unsustainable businesses and a punishing win-at-all-costs culture.

Grover whose company also recently got the much-coveted banking license said he was excited about what "we plan to build at UNITY SFB with our partner Centrum."

Last year it acquired troubled PMC Bank via a joint venture (JV) with Centrum. It was being anticipated that Grover’s comments to the Kotak employee could lead to the JV or license being reconsidered.

Grover’s temporary leave caps a saga where everything about Indian startups has been questioned. Many people said it reminded them of Housing.com’s Rahul Yadav, fired under similar charges of misconduct, and whose rollercoaster journey represented the 2015 funding boom and its sudden end.