PhonePe adds former revenue secretary, 2 Walmart executives to its board

Walmart-owned fintech firm PhonePe has inducted new members into its board of directors to bolster its governance as the Bengaluru-based company gears up for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The firm has appointed former Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj to its board and chosen him as the chairman of its risk committee.

The Sameer Nigam-led company has also welcomed two senior Walmart executives—John D Rainey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Donna Morris, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, as non-executive directors.

“We would like to confirm that Tarun Bajaj will be an independent director on the PhonePe Board and chairman of the risk committee,” stated a PhonePe spokesperson. “We would also like to confirm that John D Rainey and Donna Morris have joined the PhonePe Board as non-executive directors.”

In addition to these executives, the PhonePe board comprises company founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, Leigh Douglas Hopkins, Rohit Bhagat, and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal.

The strengthening of PhonePe’s board comes at a time when the government is tightening the regulatory framework. PhonePe’s rival Paytm is already facing multiple issues.

Last Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prohibited Paytm Payments Bank from accepting further deposits, crediting any transactions on customer accounts, digital wallets, etc., beyond February 29.

Both the RBI and auditors discovered that Paytm Payments Bank was not adhering to regulatory rules. According to reports, the RBI imposed the ban primarily because Paytm Payments Bank had linked over a thousand users to a single PAN (Permanent Account Number).

As digital payments firm Paytm confronts a critical situation, its competitors PhonePe, BHIM, and Google Pay are experiencing a surge in app downloads, indicating that consumers are searching for alternative services.

PhonePe registered 2.79 lakh Android downloads on February 3, marking a 45 per cent increase week-on-week from 1.92 lakh Android downloads on January 27, according to data shared by app intelligence firm Appfigures with Moneycontrol.