Name: Damini Vala

Enrolment No.: 20PG007

Entrepreneurship and
Innovative management
PGDM Semester 4

Case Study – Ashneer Grover

Answer 1. Ashneer Grover was born in Delhi, India, in 1982. He graduated from the Indian Institute
of Technology Delhi and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Before starting the
Bharat Pe, he has worked in various companies like Kotak Investment Bank, Grofers, PC Jeweller
Ltd and American Express. Ashneer Grover was vice president in Kotak Financing Bank between
May 2006 to May 2013. Then he joined American Express between May 2013 and March 2015 as
Director of Corporate Development. Later Ashneer became Chief Financial Officer of Grofers (Now
known as blinkit) in March 2015. And before Bharat Pe, he joined PC Jeweller Limited as “Head of
New Business” in November 2017 and left in October 2018.
BharatPe is a QR code-based payment app for offline businessmen and retailers. The app, which
allows its users to accept UPI payments for free through the BharatPe QR code, is hugely beneficial
for the small merchants and kirana stores and their owners. Along with offering easy and
interoperable QR codes for effortless UPI payments, BharatPe also extends Bharat Swipe (POS
machine) for card acceptance and small business financing. Furthermore, the company also offers
merchant loans of up to Rs 7 lakhs that can be availed for a duration of 3 to 12 months. BharatPe
also owns a peer-to-peer lending platform called 12% Club. BharatPe also launched the Digital
Gold product in 2020. This will allow the users to transact for 24-carat gold with 99.5% purity.
The BharatPe app powered by efficient QR code payments helps its users to sign in immediately,
and instantly start receiving the funds in their bank account. BharatPe started with a mission to
make payments free for all its users. Its intention is to help all.
Therefore, because of this business model of Bharatpe Ashneer Grover was successful.
Answer 2. BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover has resigned as managing director and board
director, the payment startup said on Tuesday. In a scathing resignation letter, Grover cited
reasons for quitting BharatPe board, even as he minced no words to hit back at officials for
allegedly targeting him.
As BharatPe became an entrant in UPI space and started competing with Paytm, PhonePe and
GooglePay, Grover was projected as one of faces of entrepreneurship in the country. However, his
rise in popularity metre chart was largely due to his appearance in the reality show Shark Tank
India.
Not only did he develop quite a fiery reputation, but also netizen started to follow him on Twitter.
As social media got flooded with Shark Tank India memes featuring Grover, Ashneer became a
household name. The fleeting nature of fame often stings and downfall starts very quickly when
reality strikes.
The post-television stint has not been rosy for Grover as his wife Madhuri Jain got sacked by
BharatPe due to alleged financial irregularities and money siphoning. Ahead of his resignation,
Grover’s petition to ward off a board investigation was also rejected by Singapore International
Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
At the end, Grover announced that he was leaving head held high, notwithstanding the vilification
of his personality in the public domain.
Therefore, these are the reasons for his failure.