BENGALURU: Flipkart’s co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down from PhonePe board, the payments company announced on Friday. This comes nearly 10 months after he exited Flipkart board. Bansal acquired PhonePe in 2016 and has been on its board since then. He still owns 1% of PhonePe, and is the largest individual minority shareholder.
PhonePe announced the appointment of Manish Sabharwal as an independent director and Chair of its Audit Committee. Manish is Vice-Chairman of staffing and human capital firm Teamlease Services. He will be instrumental in upholding the integrity and effectiveness of PhonePe’s financial reporting, internal controls, and risk management practices, the Bengaluru-based fintech firm said.
Sameer Nigam, CEO and founder of PhonePe, said, “Binny Bansal’s engagement, strategic guidance, and personal mentorship have profoundly enriched our discussions. Binny will be missed!”
He said Sabharwal has an incredible depth of understanding of India’s macro economy. “Coupled with his leadership in shaping India’s policies for education, employment, and employability will be invaluable as PhonePe continues to work ahead towards our shared vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047,” he added.
Bansal exited Flipkart that he co-founded in 2007. He was holding 1.75% stake in Flipkart in 2022 and he exited by selling it to Walmart. In December 2022, PhonePe separated from Flipkart. Earlier this year, Bansal launched his new venture OppDoor, a B2B platform.
With 575 million users and a digital payments acceptance network of 40 million merchants, PhonePe processes 300 million daily transactions with an annualised total payment value (TPV) of $1.8 trillion. Recently, it announced it has hit 6.4 million ratings on Apple App Store in India. This made PhonePe first Indian company to surpass the likes of YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp.