Unity SFB not affected by BharatPe tussle: Centrum Capital's Jaspal Bindra

Jaspal Bindra says Centrum's partnership is with funds like Sequoia, not Grovers

The heating up of the tussle at BharatPe, involving Founder & Managing Director Ashneer Grover, will not have any adverse impact on Unity Small Finance Bank (SFB), in which the fintech unicorn has a 49 per cent stake, said Jaspal Bindra, chairman of bank’s promoter Centrum Capital.

“Our partnership (with BharatPe) is with the funds that manage billions of dollars across the world like Sequoia that own around 85 per cent of the company. What happens within the company regarding Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain, or any other employee and founder, is their internal matter,” said Bindra.

“BharatPe is a shareholder in the bank and we have got their money. But there is nothing beyond that as they don’t even yet have a representative on the bank’s board,” he added.

Over the past couple of months, BharatPe has been embroiled in a fight with Grover and his wife on the one side and the company’s investors, independent directors, and other co-founders on another. On Wednesday, the company confirmed it had sacked Grover’s wife as its head of controls after reports emerged alleging financial irregularities on the duo’s watch.

Unity SFB, promoted by Centrum with BharatPe as a 'joint investor', was granted a banking licence in October 2021. It started functioning on November 1 last year with shareholder capital of Rs 1,100 and an asset base of over Rs 2,400 crore. The promoter and investor have committed a total capital infusion of up to Rs 3,000 crore.

In January, the government had approved the takeover of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank by Unity SFB. The newly formed SFB had said earlier that around 110 branches of the merged bank and over 1,100 of its employees will operate under the new label now.