BharatPe Appoints Ex-Paytm SVP Ajit Kumar As New CTO

IPO-bound fintech startup BharatPe has roped in ex-Paytm senior vice president Ajit Kumar as its new chief technology officer (CTO) months after its former CTO Pankay Goel turned in his papers. 

In a statement, BharatPe said that Kumar would be spearheading the startup’s tech strategy and innovations across its payments and lending platforms. Prior to his new role, he was associated with Paytm for about nine years, joining the fintech major as a general manager in 2017. 

Over his near two decade long career, the IIT-Guwahati alum has worked with tech companies like Snapdeal, Times Internet, xAd Inc, among others. 

“His proven experience in building scalable fintech platforms and his deep understanding of payments and UPI infrastructure will be instrumental as we continue to innovate and strengthen our technology stack,” BharatPe’s CEO Nalin Negi said on the appointment. 

Kumar would be helming the CTO role at the fintech unicorn over five months after Goel departed from the company citing “personal reasons”. Subsequently, he joined LeadSquared as its CTO in June 2025.

Goel’s exit was a part of significant leadership churn that BharatPe saw in recent times. Earlier this year, CMO Parth Joshi stepped down to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, while CHRO Smriti Handa and chief data scientist Ritesh Mohan Srivastava also departed to pursue other opportunities. 

These exits contributed to a broader reshuffling at the top, which saw BharatPe undertake a structured leadership realignment. CBO Sandeep Indurkar moved to helm the banking vertical as the CEO of its payments vertical, Kohinoor Biswas took charge of its consumer business, and Rijish Raghavan was assigned to oversee the PoS device business.

These leaders now report directly to CEO Negi, ensuring tighter coordination across key verticals as the company positions itself for growth and an eventual IPO.

BharatPe is eyeing a public listing on the Indian bourses by FY27. In January this year, Negi said that the startup was looking to report EBITDA profitability in FY25, with plans to float an IPO in the next 18-24 months.

BharatPe reported an EBITDA of INR 141 Cr for FY25 (excluding employee stock option expenses), marking a turnaround from an EBITDA loss of INR 209 Cr in FY24.Overall, it narrowed its net losses by 82% to INR 88.2 Cr in FY25 compared to INR 492 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Meanwhile, operating revenue rose nearly 17% to INR 1,667 Cr in the year under review as against INR 1,426.1 Cr in FY24.