MUMBAI: Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down from the board of PhonePe, the fintech which the e-commerce firm had acquired in 2016 under Bansal’s watch and has now separated from Flipkart. In January this year, Bansal had also exited the board of Flipkart, one of India’s early Startups launched by Bansal alongside fellow IIT Delhi alumni Sachin Bansal in 2007 in which US retail giant Walmart eventually acquired a controlling stake in a $16 billion deal in 2018.
Bansal’s exit from both PhonePe and Flipkart boards come amid the launch of his new startup venture oppDoor based in Singapore. Bansal had been on the fintech’s board since 2016. Bansal, however, still remains the largest individual minority shareholder in PhonePe with an about 1% stake, sources said. “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of PhonePe’s earliest and staunchest supporters. His active engagement, strategic guidance and personal mentorship have profoundly enriched our discussions,” Sameer Nigam, CEO and founder at PhonePe said in a statement.
The Bengaluru-based company on Friday also announced the appointment of Manish Sabharwal, vice-chairman of Teamlease Services as an independent director and chair of its audit committee. Valued at $12 billion, PhonePe which competes with Paytm and Google Pay in an expanding local fintech market aims to go public in the coming years.
