BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover takes voluntary leave till March-end

BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover.

BharatPe co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover has taken a voluntary leave till March-end, as per a statement issued by the fintech company on January 19.

Grover informed the company's Board about his decision to proceed on leave earlier in the day, the statement noted.

"For now, the Board has accepted Ashneer’s decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day," it said.

The announcement comes amid the controversy over Grover's alleged use of inappropriate language against Kotak Group staff.

In Grover's absence, BharatPe said it "will continue to be ably led by our CEO Suhail Sameer and our strong management team".

"Ashneer has co-built BharatPe from scratch and his decision is consistent with his passionate commitment to the future success of the company," the statement further noted.

For the uninitiated, it all started earlier this month after an audio clip was leaked that had Grover allegedly abusing and threatening a Kotak Group employee for missing out on share allotment during the initial public offering (IPO) of FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which operates online fashion and wellness company Nykaa.

Grover was quick to claim that the clip was “fake”, adding that it was a “scamster” who put it out. However, he subsequently deleted the post. It was only then that Moneycontrol reported that Grover had in fact sent a legal notice to Kotak for failure to provide IPO financing for the Nykaa IPO.

The notice sought damages for the gains Grover and his wife would have made after subscribing to shares worth Rs 500 crore in the company, besides Rs 1 lakh towards the cost of the legal notice.