A day after Ashneer Grover received summons from the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police regarding a BharatPe suit, the former Shark Tank judge said BharatPe spent $10 million easily on lawyers against me but does not have $10 million (roughly Rs 80 crore) for World Cup. He said it’s all ego, no business.
Sharing a “business trivia” about the World Cup, Ashneer Grover in a post on X said, “BharatPe pulled out of the ICC World Cup 2023 in a year Bharat should win.”
“I had done a 3 year deal with ICC in 2021 . Essentially we as BharatPe we’re getting 3 World Cups as Global Sponsor (behind wicket mat) – T20 World Cup Dubai 2021, T20 World Cup Australia 2022, and ODI World Cup India 2023. Deal was for $27 Mn (₹215 crores) – $10 + $7 + $10 Mn,” Ashneer Grover said.
He left BharatPe in 2022.
“Under Rajnish Kumar – BharatPe had no new product – no business strategy. Went ahead in T20 Australia World Cup 2022 – only took senior employees on company paid vacation – WHO ALL LEFT company within months. So $17 Mn of $27 Mn spent,” he said.
Grover further said that in the main event, ICC World Cup 2023, great opportunity emerges for branding and engagement with merchants, customers and employees. Only $10 million or Rs 80 crore were to be spent.
“BharatPe PULLs OUT – gives slot to MasterCard. Can you believe it?!” Grover said.
“That’s Rajnish Kumar as management. Company spent $10 Mn easily on lawyers against me – but does not have $10 Mn (₹80 crores) for World Cup ! All ego – no business,” he said.
Rajnish Kumar joined MasterCard India Board around same time as handing over coveted sponsorship to MasterCard on a platter. How could Rajnish join competing business (his agreement barred him from joining any competitor) – and handover such valuable sponsorship and great deal – it’s not even related party transaction – it’s SAME party transaction!, Grover said.
“I wish India wins tomorrow with same domination!” he said.
World Cup 2023 final will be played on Sunday between India and Australia.
Grover also said that during the Dubai T20 World Cup, he launched ‘PostPe’ which generated Rs 300 crore business in first few months itself.
Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover were on Thursday evening stopped at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police while they were travelling to New York for a vacation.
The development came after allegations that Grover’s family siphoned off funds from BharatPe on the pretext of offering recruitment services, gave bank accounts numbers that were created after the dates when they were raised, as per the EOW’s preliminary report of an investigation.
