Ashneer Grover: The Story of BharatPe Co-Founder & Managing Director
Three points you will get to know in this article:
- Ashneer Grover early life & education
- The story of building Bharat pe
- Details into his personal life & more
About Ashneer Grover
Memes such as “Ye Sab Doglapan hai” and “Bhai tu Naukri Dhoond, Tujhse nahi hopayega” have gained popularity on social media and are still widely used today. During Shark Tank Season 1, Mr. Ashneer Grover, the former co-founder and CEO of Bharat Pe, openly exploited similar exchanges.
It is the Indian adaptation of the American Business Reality Show, which has gained widespread popularity as a television program.
| Name | Mr. Ashneer Grover |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, Businessman, Investor |
| Company Type | Fintech |
| Former Company | Bharat Pe |
| Designation | Co-founder and Ex MD |
| Date of Birth | 14th June, 1982 |
| Age | 40 years |
| Birth Place | Delhi |
| Marital Status | Married to Mrs. Madhuri Jain Grover |
Mr. Ashneer Grover Early Life and Education
Delhi is where Ashneer was born and raised. He came from a middle-class background. All of his relatives were employed professionals. Mr. Ashneer finished his education at Apeejay School. He then graduated from Delhi with a degree.
After finishing his 12th grade, Ashneer decided to enroll in the B.Tech. Civil Engineering program at Indian Institute of Technology in the 2000–2004 batch, abandoning his father’s dream of becoming a chartered accountant. He was chosen to study at the University of INSA-LYON in France as an exchange student. After receiving a €6,000 grant from the French Embassy, Mr. Ashneer Grover graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 2006 with a master’s degree in MBA in finance.
Ashneer Grover Family

Grover, Ashneer Madhuri Jain Grover was married. He is the top student in his batch, and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi selected Ashneer and five other students as abroad scholars out of 450 total. Mannat Grover and Avy Grover are Ashneer’s two children. His mother is a teacher, while his father is a chartered accountant. Prior to joining Bharat Pe, Mrs. Madhuri worked for organizations such as Satya Paul and Alok Industries. She also owns the furniture business Mauve and Brown.
Ashneer Grover - Initial Career
Ashneer Grover was chosen as the Vice President by Kotak Finance Banking through an IIM campus placement. Since 2006, he has worked for Kotak for over seven years.
Ashneer began working for American Express (AmEx), a provider of credit card services, in the middle of 2013 and stayed there for two years. Grover is renowned for having spearheaded some first investments for the Indian card network during his tenure. During Grover’s tenure, American Express made the Series B investment in Mobikwik. At AmEx, he was appointed Director of Corporate Development.
Ashneer left American Express in 2015 to take a position as Chief Financial Officer at Grofers, a firm that his classmate Albinder Dhindsa created at IIT Delhi. Grover, however, quit the company in 2017 after not receiving the ESOP options that had been offered to him. The business is currently known as Blinkit.
Ashneer was hired by PC Jeweller Ltd. later in 2017 as the Head of New Business, a position he held for precisely one year. At an early age, Ashneer Grover founded his own business, BharatPe.
Ashneer Grover - Founding BharatPe

Ashneer Grover made the decision to launch his own company after gaining 12 years of expertise from a variety of occupations. The idea to launch a payments company was inspired by his time spent at PC Jeweller as the head of business development and payments. In 2018, Ashneer ultimately partnered with Shashvat Nakrani to launch BharatPe.
Together, they started the fintech business from the ground up and expanded its primary business to include a number of services. These days, BharatPe provides digital gold transactions, POS machines for card payments, UPI payments, QR codes for transactions, and the 12% Club app for loans and investments.
According to Ashneer’s remarks on Shark Tank India, he had a $50 million offer from Google Pay while BharatPe was a $30 million startup, but he declined to close a transaction with the latter. BharatPe was last valued at about $3 billion, and Grover went on to say that he knew he was destined for something huge, something that all CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs should strive for.
Additionally, they received RBI approval for funding small businesses in partnership with Centrum Financial Services Ltd. Ashneer Grover made BharatPe one of the most popular payment applications in the nation by providing a variety of features. However, he was forced to quit following a series of accusations and disputes centered on him because of his financial irregularities, which the board of the firm discovered. Announcing his resignation from BharatPe on February 28, 2022, Ashneer Grover boasted that he was still the company’s largest individual stakeholder.
In an April 29, 2022, address at Lovely Professional University, where he was invited as a guest speaker, Ashneer Grover provided insight into how businesses function and all the considerations that must be made before embarking on a new project. Speaking about the same, he revealed one instance in which he tried to make BharatPe famous overnight after founding it. He wanted to sign Salman Khan even though he had Rs 100 crore in his bank account.
Nearly Rs 7.5 crore was charged by the Bollywood star. However, Ashneer urged Salman to reevaluate his fees because he wasn’t sure whether he could accomplish it. Additionally, Salman was asked, “Aap bhindi kharidne aaye ho kya, kitni mandwali karoge?” by his manager. In 2019, Salman became the brand ambassador for BharatPe after finally reevaluating the fee and lowering it to Rs 4.5 crore.
Challenges Faced & Controversy
When an audio tape appeared, Ashneer Grover’s name became deeply entangled in controversy. Ashneer was heard threatening a Kotak Mahindra Bank staffer and using foul language in the video. The employee’s purported inability to obtain a joint allocation of Naykaa’s IPO for Ashneer and his spouse, Madhuri Jain, served as the incident’s backdrop.
Ashneer’s otherwise stellar career has been clouded by this scandal and the accusations that followed from the BharatPe board. The BharatPe board made complaints against Ashneer Grover. He and his spouse were accused by the board of utilizing business funds for their own purposes and arranging fraudulent transactions against fake merchants. Additionally, they raised concerns about some invoices that appeared to have been uploaded twice.
Ashneer took three months of voluntary absence as a result of this controversy. Following their discovery of financial irregularities within the corporation, the board members demanded that Ashneer Grover formally step down from his current position. He left his job at BharatPe, and he said while he was leaving the company that the board had made him leave.
A protracted legal dispute between Ashneer Grover and BharatPe began in March 2022 when he was fired from his position as managing director. After reaching a settlement with the financial company BharatPe, Ashneer Grover retracted his appeal from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in October 2024. A family trust will manage Ashneer’s shares as part of the settlement, and he will no longer have any affiliation with BharatPe. For the interest of the business, a portion of the shares will be moved to the Resilient Growth Trust. With this deal, Grover formally distances himself from any participation with BharatPe, bringing their legal fights to a close.
Ashneer Grover - Shark Tank India

Ashneer Grover gained a lot of popularity while serving as a judge on the inaugural season of Shark Tank India. But following a dispute with his previous employer, BharatPe, which he had assisted in founding, he was fired. His popularity persisted in spite of this, and many viewers continued to hope he might make a comeback in upcoming seasons.
Business Lessons To Learn from Mr. Ashneer Grover
There are claims, counterclaims, and twists in the BharatPe story. Despite having accomplished founders and a solid track record, it appears to be subpar in the end. The result is not very good because it has ruined the management’s, employees’, and customers’ essential values.
Ashneer Grover has done a fantastic job with BharatPe. He succeeded because of his talent and unwavering work ethic. Despite his ability to make harsh decisions, he formerly struggled with teamwork, which led to him getting into problems. He did not collaborate with the members of the board.
The BharatPe narrative has twists, claims, and counterclaims. Even though it has a strong track record and successful founders, it ultimately seems to be below average. Because it has destroyed the core values of the management, staff, and customers, the outcome is not very positive.
With BharatPe, Ashneer Grover has done an outstanding job. His talent and unwavering work ethic were the reasons behind his success. Even though he can make tough choices, he used to have trouble working with others, which caused him to run into issues. He didn’t work together with the board members.
Entrepreneurs are public figures and role models in today’s environment, where the media is crucial. Mr. Ashneer Grover displayed a certain bit of immaturity in his remarks, failing to consider the potential consequences of his own remarks.
Without a doubt, Mr. Ashner Grover can establish, scale, and add value to businesses of all sizes. He thinks his next business will succeed greatly. Well, some people think he’s unpleasant, while others think he’s honest. However, he thinks that putting too much value on oneself is a recipe for failure.
- Ashneer Grover has always adviced that if the product is good , then put money in to it, don’t go by the size, keep away from the secondary stocks, and be smart.
- Lastly when Ashneer Grover was asked about how he spends his free time , he replied “ I don’t party, I don’t read, all I know is how to grow your business and make money.”
Ashneer Grover Net Worth
The total net worth of Mr. Ashneer Grover Net Worth is $ 105 million. The net worth is estimated according to Wikipedia, Forbes and IMDB. His enormous luxury home is worth up to Rs. 30 crore, according to estimates. Also he owns a collection of high end luxury vehicle including the Porsche Cayman S Mercedes-Maybach S650 , Mercedes-Benz GLS 350, Audi A6 etc.
Conclusion
Ashneer Grover’s experience serves as evidence that obstacles and problems are unavoidable regardless of one’s level of accomplishment. Your character and potential are genuinely defined by how you handle them. Ashneer’s fortitude in the face of hardship is incredibly motivating.
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