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Fintech unicorn PhonePe has today launched its Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) charter. The first phase will focus on gender, sexual orientation, and people with disability, identifying specific actions in each of these areas.

The company has pledged to increase female representation in its top two leadership roles (Directors & Vice Presidents) from 16 percent to 25 percent by December 2021. It has taken on a numerical goal for gender at the senior level, where stronger representation at the top is easily visible and helps provide role models for the broader organization.

To be the employer of choice for the LGBTQ community, PhonePe’s initial focus will be on creating spaces for conversation and awareness, and to review policies, processes, and systems to be more inclusive.

The company is also reviewing its current roles, policy framework and infrastructure to enable people with disabilities to be a larger part of the organisation.

“As we build solutions for a billion Indians, it is important for us that the organisation we create truly represents the diversity of our customer base,” said Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe.

Creating a safe environment

The founders share three reasons for this initiative:

• There is a strong correlation between diverse organisations and increased shareholder value
• As a diverse workspace, this help to attract from a wider talent pool
• Will encourage deeper, more holistic thinking

“But ultimately, being an inclusive organisation is simply the right thing to do. For us, this is not about a metric to track, but about creating a welcoming space for everyone, regardless of who they are,” he added.

Sharing her perspective, Manmeet Sandhu, Head of HR, PhonePe said, “People work best when they have a safe environment to bring all of their capabilities and creativity to the job. Diversity for us will never be only about representation, but about letting people be their true selves without the need to hide any aspect of themselves. How we do this will be a process of ongoing learning – from people’s lived experiences, and from all the work that has gone before. This is a small first step in a long journey ahead.”

PhonePe, which was recently spun off from Flipkart, counts 280 million registered users and 110 monthly active users across the country.

It has been trying to expand into smaller cities with its business offerings, and tap retail investors by allowing them to invest in assets such as gold, insurance, and mutual funds on its platform. PhonePe recorded over 1.07 billion total transactions in the month of February, across UPI, cards, and wallets.