Bengaluru-based payment aggregator Cashfree Payments has announced the appointment of Abhaya Hota, former Managing Director and CEO of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), as an independent director on its board. The company revealed this development in a statement on Tuesday.
Hota, who previously served as Chief General Manager at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was the inaugural CEO of NPCI and retired from this position in August 2017. During his tenure at NPCI, Hota was instrumental in the implementation of digital technology for cheque clearing and the launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay credit cards.
In addition to his new role at Cashfree Payments, Hota serves as an independent director at Federal Bank, NSE Clearing, Protean e-Gov Technologies, and RBI Innovation Hub. His extensive experience in banking and finance is expected to significantly contribute to Cashfree Payments, particularly in governance and strategic policy formulation.
“His wealth of experience at the highest levels of banking and finance in the country will be of great value to us, especially from a governance and strategic policies point of view,” said Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO of Cashfree Payments.
The Y Combinator and State Bank of India-backed company reported a 75% year-on-year increase in revenue from operations, reaching Rs 614 crore in FY23. However, the company also recorded a loss of Rs 133 crore in FY23, a substantial rise from the Rs 3 crore loss in the previous year.
On December 20, the Economic Times reported that Cashfree Payments had received approval from the RBI to operate as a payment aggregator, allowing it to resume onboarding new merchants after a nearly year-long regulatory ban.
This strategic appointment is seen as a move to bolster the company’s governance framework and drive future growth in the highly competitive payment solutions market.
