BharatPe

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BharatPe
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Financial service
Available inMultilingual
Founded2018; 6 years ago (2018)
HeadquartersNew Delhi,
Area servedIndia
Founder(s)Ashneer Grover
Shashvat Nakrani
Bhavik Koladiya
IndustryInternet
E-commerce
ServicesUPI payments and digital money lending for merchants
Net income−828 crore (US$−120 million) (FY22)
Websitebharatpe.com
RegistrationRequired
Current statusActive

BharatPe is a fintech company that caters to the small merchants and kirana store owners of India.[1] The company offers a range of fintech products including interoperable QR code for UPI payments, Bharat Swipe (POS machine) for card acceptance, and small business financing. It facilitates small merchants to accept payments via UPI (Unified Payments Interface) for free, through the BharatPe QR code. It also offers merchant loans of up to Rs. 7 lacs for a duration of 3 to 12 months. The other products include and a peer to peer lending product called 12% Club.[2] In 2020 they launched Digital Gold product for merchant [3][4]

History[edit]

The firm was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvnat Nakrani in 2018, with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. In 2020, they signed cricketers Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Shubhman Gill were signed as BharatPe brand ambassadors [5]. Later in 2020, they hired Suhail Sameer as the group president.[6] In June 2021, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued an In-principle approval to Centrum Financial Services Limited to establish a Small Finance Bank (SFB). with BharatPe.[7][8] Till March 2021, It has expanded its network to 100 cities across India, including tier 2 and 3 cities. The new additions include cities of Guwahati, Vellore, Hosur, Nagpur, Raipur, Bilaspur, Bhubaneswar, tourist hubs like Pondicherry, Amritsar, Varanasi, and Agra.[9] In June 2021, They acquired PAYBACK India from American Express and ICICI Investments Strategic Fund. It did not disclose the transaction value.[10] In August 2021, BharatPe changed its leadership and elevated Suhail Sameer as the CEO from group president and Ashneer Grover as the MD.[11][12]

Controversies[edit]

BharatPe got into controversy when it tried to label other competitors like Paytm as not completely Indian companies because of ownership by companies that are not Indian while calling itself Nationalistic because of complete Indian ownership. The employees of the company distributed pamphlets with such information to compromise the reputation of competitors. The Mint reported to have copies of such pamphlets and reported[13]

The competitors responded with law suits and also approached the Reserve Bank of India to stop such activities by BharatPe[14]The pamphlet distribution was also confirmed by Times of India. The same reported "BharatPe's actions has incensed rivals, especially Paytm and PhonePe, as they compete more directly than others like Amazon and Google Pay."[13]

The other controversy BharatPe was involved in was with another competitor PhonePe which is a consumer-focused payments firm but competes with BharatPe for merchant payments on UPI, when the two payment applications fought over the use of words 'Pe'. The matter is to be sought in the courts in July 2021.[15]

References[edit]

  1. "BharatPe all set to crack the merchant's code". businessindia.co. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  2. "BharatPe aims to disburse ₹1,000 crore in loans in next six months". @businessline. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. "STARTUP DIGEST: HC seeks govt reply on WhatsApp's plea on IT rules, BharatPe forays into P2P lending". www.cnbctv18.com. 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  4. Bureau, BW Online. "BharatPe Launches Brand Campaign with record 11 Cricket Stars as Brand Ambassadors". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  5. Bureau, BW Online. "BharatPe Launches Brand Campaign with record 11 Cricket Stars as Brand Ambassadors". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  6. "BharatPe Appoints Ex – McKinsey Suhail Sameer as Group President". BW people. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  7. Mittal, Apoorva. "BharatPe puts in joint bid to acquire PMC Bank". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  8. "Centrum takeover of PMC Bank: What's in store for existing depositors". The Indian Express. 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  9. Writer, Staff (2021-03-10). "BharatPe expands to 100 cities in India". mint. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  10. Bureau, Our. "BharatPe acquires PAYBACK India". @businessline. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  11. Aug 14, TIMESOFINDIA COM |; 2020; Ist, 15:49. "BharatPe appoints Suhail Sameer as group president - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Aug 14, TIMESOFINDIA COM |; 2020; Ist, 15:49. "BharatPe appoints Suhail Sameer as group president - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. 13.0 13.1 Sep 3, Digbijay Mishra / TNN / Updated; 2020; Ist, 16:01. "BharatPe displays 'Indian' tag, dares Paytm, PhonePe - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. Bhalla, Tarush (2020-09-01). "BharatPe's taunts on nationalism irk rivals". mint. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  15. "PhonePe's battle with BharatPe over suffix set for full trial in July". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-07-10.