Razorpay builds new independent advisory board

By Team Startupcity  |  Tuesday, 18 April 2023, 14:16 IST

Razorpay builds new independent advisory board
Razorpay, a digital payments provider to businesses, has built an independent advisory board and hired former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India N Vishwanathan, along with other industry experts, to assist it with aspects of governance, compliance and risk management practices, as it scales.
The newly formed council would also help contribute to the development of Razorpay’s payment infrastructure and engage with key institutions and stakeholders, the company said in a news release.
Vishwanathan would chair the board. Its other members include former State Bank of India managing director Arijit Basu, former telecom and IT secretary Aruna Sundararajan and KP Krishnan, who was secretary at the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Razorpay is setting up the advisory board amidst increasing regulatory scrutiny of the fintech sector. The RBI has barred the firm from inducting new merchants over issues linked to its payment aggregator licence.
Last month, the Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint in a Bengaluru court against seven entities and five individuals, including Razorpay, linked to the Chinese loan app case. Since last year, the ED that handles money-laundering cases has been conducting raids on major gateways including Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm, related to the issue.
In its statement, the firm said the key subject areas of the advisory board would include - accelerating product innovation around customer experience and customer safety, building practices for regulatory and compliance management processes, working with various stakeholders to increase risk monitoring and cybercrime prevention, as well as building new processes around digital information security which might help shape the future of fintech ecosystem.
“India’s fintech ecosystem is at a crucial juncture in its evolution. With India serving as a benchmark for several nations today, it is pertinent that companies like ours are future-ready and agile to adapt to the ever-changing fintech environment … we have a strong intent to put in place further systems to uphold the highest standards of customer-experience and governance,” stated Harshil Mathur, cofounder and chief executive at Razorpay.
The advisory board will also aid Razorpay in developing long-term strategies, anticipating challenges and suggesting mitigation measures.
Vishwanathan said the advisory board would provide the Razorpay leadership with guidance and expertise in helping it adopt governance and compliance practices.
Razorpay claims to have 10 million merchants on its platform. The firm was valued at $7.5 billion in December 2021 when it raised $375 million.

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