Digital payments and lending platform BharatPe saw a jump of over 20 times in its revenue for the financial year 2020-21, while its losses widened by 77 percent during the same period.
Over the past few months, the company has been in the news for the controversial exit of founder and former Managing Director Ashneer Grover. However, the company's substantial rise in revenue for FY21 comes on the back of the increased adoption of digital payments by merchants during the pandemic, followed by the rise in small ticket borrowing by businesses and customers alike.
In absolute terms, the company's revenue stood at Rs 119 crore, up from Rs 6 crore in the previous financial year, according to the company's regulatory filings accessed through Tofler.
Losses widened to Rs 1,619 crore from Rs 912 crore a year ago, led by a 93 percent increase in expenses in a year that saw the company's presence grow rapidly. Total expenses stood at Rs 1,804 crore for FY21, as compared to Rs 934 crore in FY20.
In addition to its losses for the period, BharatPe saw a loss of Rs 1,342 crore due to a change in the fair value of Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS), as compared to Rs 705 crore in FY20. This takes the total losses for the year to Rs 2,961 crore.
Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover exited the company after allegations of misappropriation of funds surfaced following governance audits conducted by Alvarez & Marsal and PwC. Grover exited the company in a late-night resignation on February 28, a day after his wife was terminated from the post of Head of Controls at BharatPe.
Since then both Grover and his wife have maintained that their ouster from the company was unfair and have blamed CEO Suhail Sameer and Chairman Rajnish Kumar several times.
Most recently, the company was in the news again regarding a post by an employee who alleged that the company had not paid him his dues for the month of March. Grover and his sister Ashima Grover commented on the post, eliciting a response from CEO Sameer who said that her brother stole all the money so they have very little left to pay salaries.
Grover wrote a letter to BharatPe's board seeking an apology from Sameer and Kumar's resignation.
BharatPe had clarified in a statement on allegations of non-payment, "All the employees of the company have been paid their March salary in full. As per the company policy, employees serving their notice period will receive their full and final settlement amount in the due course as per company policy ."
Sameer had also apologised for his comment to Ashima Grover on the post in another comment that he posted later saying his response was 'out of line'. He added that the company was working on paying out the full and final settlement for employees on their notice period.
"My comment was a reaction to a particular statement, not the post. But I accept the mistake. I request you to also have patience, and refrain from building a story based on a false narrative," Sameer commented.
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