PTC India Financial sinks 16% after resignation of 3 Independent Directors Resign

- Charvi
Date: 20 January 2022

PTC India Financial Services Limited, an infrastructure financing company, disclosed to

the bourses that three of its independent directors, Kamlesh Vikamsey, Thomas Mathew T.
and Santosh Nayar, resigned from the company with immediate effect on 19 January 2022.

PTC India Financial Services Limited is a registered NBFC and falls under the jurisdiction
of the RBI as far as the conduct of its business is concerned. PTC India owns a majority
65% stake in the company while the LIC of India holds a 2.13% stake. PFS, being an IFC,
is engaged in the business of making investments in, and providing financing solutions to
companies with projects in the power sector and related areas across the entire energy value
chain.

In his resignation letter to the company, Thomas Mathew T. stated that the current
managing director of the company, Rajib Kumar Mishra, did not allow Mr. Ratnesh to join
as Director (finance) and CFO despite him being appointed after following a board
mandated process.
The independent directors further raised concerns over the two-year delay in tabling a
forensic audit report on bridge and term loans to Nagapatnam Power and Infratech Pvt Ltd
worth Rs 125 and Rs 150 crore, respectively.
Also, the previous chairman of the company, Deepak Amitabh, had highlighted several
corporate governance issues in the company in August 2021. Despite several reminders
from the independent directors, these issues have remained unresolved, according to the
independent directors.
The board of the company also expressed concern over the unilateral and unauthorised
changing of terms and conditions of loan extended to Patel Darah-Jhalawar Highway
Private Limited. A report was sought on it by October 2021. The same is yet to be
submitted to the board.
The independent directors contend that various emails sent by them have not been
acknowledged or responded to by the company management.

Shares of PTC India Financial Services plummeted 16% to Rs 21.55 apiece on the National
Stock Exchange after three independent directors resigned and raised concerns over corporate
governance standards at the company.
 BharatPe's Ashneer Grover announces voluntary leave of absence till March-end
- Charvi
Date: 20 January 2022

Ashneer Grover, Co-founder and MD of BharatPe, informed the company’s Board on 19

January 2022, of his decision to take a voluntary leave of absence from BharatPe till
March-end.

Grover also issued a statement on his leave. He wrote, "After much deliberation and
introspection. I plan to take temporary leave of absence from BharatPe till March end. 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," he
said. 

Grover’s decision has been accepted by the board. BharatPe said in a statement issued on
Wednesday, “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. BharatPe will continue to be ably led by our CEO Suhail Sameer and our
strong management team,”
This resignation came after an audio clip, surfaced on Twitter wherein Ashneer Grover and
his wife Madhuri Grover, are heard conversing with an official alleged to be employed
with Kotak Mahindra Group. Ashneer allegedly abused and threatened to get the employee
killed in an encounter over the failure to help secure financing from Kotak's wealth
management division for participating in the IPO of FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which
runs beauty ecommerce unicorn Nykaa.

In response to the tweet with the controversial audio clip, Ashneer said the alleged audio
clip was "fake", and a "scamster" was trying to extort funds worth $240,000 in bitcoins .

A few days after the audio emerged, Ashneer and his wife Madhuri Grover sent a legal notice
to Kotak Mahindra Bank's managing director and chief executive officer Uday Kotak and to
some of his senior management, accusing the bank of failing to secure financing and
allocation of shares in an IPO launched by beauty firm Nykaa.

The notice has 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.

Kotak Mahindra Bank in a statement said: "This notice was received by us and was replied to
appropriately at the time, including placing on record our objections to inappropriate
language used by Mr. Grover."

Further course of action by both the parties is awaited.