Freecharge CEO Siddharth Mehta quits
1 min read . Updated: 04 Mar 2023, 11:29 PM IST
Premium- While Mehta’s replacement at Freecharge is not known yet, but looks like he has quit to start his own fintech venture
Freecharge managing director and chief executive officer Siddharth Mehta has quit the Axis Bank-owned payments wallet company.
Mehta was appointed as Freecharge MD for a period of four years from August 20, 2019 to August 19, 2023. He replaced Sangram Singh – who had then quit to join a fintech lending company Indifi Technologies as president. Singh soon moved back to Axis Bank as commercial banking group head.
While Mehta’s replacement at Freecharge is not known yet, but looks like he has quit to start his own fintech venture. His LinkedIn shows, he served as Freecharge CEO till last month.
As per Registrar of Companies data, in November 2022 Mehta, along with former Axis Bank executive Mohit Bedi, set up a new venture, named Gokiwi Tech Pvt Ltd.
Responding to a Mint query, Axis Bank spokesperson confirmed Mehta’s departure.
In October 2017, Freecharge Payment Technologies Private Ltd was acquired by the country’s third-largest lender Axis Bank for ₹373 crore in an all-cash deal. Axis Bank had then said the Freecharge acquisition will double the customer base of the bank and leapfrog its digital journey.
Under Axis Bank, Freecharge has grown significantly in terms of revenues and has also turned profitable. For FY22, Freecharge reported ₹287 crore in operating revenue; whereas the profits dropped to ₹23 crore from ₹37 crore in FY21.
Freecharge also applied for the payment aggregator licence to the Reserve Bank of India. However, their application was returned by the RBI last month, and was ask to re-apply within 120 days.
