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Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl, the chief business officer (CBO) of the merchant lending business at BharatPe, has put down his papers, thus adding to the long list of exits of senior leaders from the fintech company since last year. 

The Economic Times was the first to report the development.

Bahl joined the company in 2020 as the head of operations and was later elevated to the position of chief operating officer. He was recently reassigned as the CBO of BharatPe’s merchant lending business. 

In a statement shared with YourStory, the company said, “We would like to confirm that Mr Bahl is moving on from BharatPe to pursue his entrepreneurial passions. He has been an integral part of the organisation and contributed to the growth of the company. We thank him for his contribution to BharatPe’s journey and wish him all the best for future endeavours.” 

Prior to BharatPe, Bahl worked with organisations including Airtel Payments Bank, Paytm Bank, and Fortis Healthcare. 

Over the last 12 months, the Tiger Global-backed BharatPe has seen the exodus of top-level leaders, including co-founders Satyam Nathani and Bhavik Koladiya, Suhail Sameer (CEO), Nishit Sharma (CRO), Geetanshu Singla (VP, Technology), Nehul Malhotra (PostPe head), and Rajat Jain (CPO, lending and consumer products). 

Team realignment

Some team realignment has been underway at BharatPe this year. 

The company recently looped in former Razorpay SVP Pankaj Goel as its new chief technology officer and former ICICI Bank veteran Sandeep Indurkar as the chief business officer of banking and alliances. It also appointed Aparna Kuppuswamy as its chief risk officer and Kohinoor Biswas as the head of the consumer lending business. 

In search of a CEO, BharatPe had also appointed risk and compliance expert Rahul Bhatia as the head of internal audit and banking industry veteran Ravinder Oberoi as the head of compliance, in January.

Meanwhile, CFO Nalin Negi continues to operate as the interim CEO. 

Merchant lending vertical

The merchant lending space is the latest hotspot for fintech firms. PhonePe and Mobikwik are the latest entrants, after BharatPe and Paytm. The companies, in partnership with banks and NBFCs, are looking to tap into the space and facilitate small loans to their merchant base.

In a big lending push, BharatPe acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-based NBFC Trillion Loans in April to boost its merchant lending vertical launched in 2019.

The company claims to serve over 1 crore merchants across more than 400 cities. It says it has already facilitated the disbursement of loans worth nearly Rs 8,000 crore to date.

“At BharatPe, the merchant lending business has grown significantly over the last one year, under the able guidance of an experienced leadership team. BharatPe has a strong internal team that will continue to drive growth in the times to come,” the company said in response to YourStory’s queries.