Fintech unicorn BharatPe in a big leadership step made Ajit Kumar, who previously worked as a Paytm executive, the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), starting October 23, 2025. The appointment of Kumar is timely to the company as it strives to tighten its technological, payment and lending platforms to spur the next round of digital innovation and expansion.
Ajit Kumar Brings in 19 Years experience to BharatPe
Ajit Kumar, the former Senior Vice President of Paytm’s Engineering, brings with him almost 20 years of experience in systems and platform development and scalability in successful high-performance technology ecosystem development in the fintech and digital payments industry.
Under Kumar, Paytm has been a top Indian fintech giant by being a leader in product engineering, backend systems, and digital payment innovations, which led to Paytm gaining the status of one of the biggest Indian fintech giants.
At BharatPe, Ajit Kumar will lead the company in its technology strategy, which will include payment infrastructure, merchant solutions, lending products, and security architecture. He will also be responsible for fast-tracking AI and data-driven projects of BharatPe to improve customer experience and efficiency of the operations.
Succession Planning following the Retirement of the Previous CTO
The new appointment is almost five months after the previous CTO Pankaj Goel stepped down in May 2025 on personal grounds. Goel would be joining LeadSquared as CTO in June 2025 after nearly two years at BharatPe.
This leadership vacuum was one of the priorities that BharatPe needed to fill in because the company is still growing its presence in the competitive Indian digital payments and merchant lending ecosystem.
The Focus of BharatPe on Technology and Innovation Strengthening
With a new leader, Ajit Kumar, BharatPe is likely to redoubling its technology-based expansion plan. The company intends to make high investments in scalable payment infrastructure, AI-driven credit assessment models, and merchant-based lending solutions.
BharatPe has been defined as a strong player in B2B fintech industry that serves millions of merchants in India by means of UPI QR payments, BharatSwipe POS machines, and short term business loans.
The new CTO has a background of system architecture at scale and financial technology, which will play a crucial role in expanding the innovation of the company in the future.
As company insiders explain, Ajit Kumar will collaborate with the CEO Nalin Negi and other senior leaders to align the product roadmap at BharatPe with the long-term vision of empowering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by using cutting-edge fintech solutions.
The BharatPe Vision of Ajit Kumar
Ajit Kumar finds himself in his new position and wants BharatPe to become one of the technology resiliency and innovation-driven fintech firms in India. He stressed that the BharatPe purpose of empowering small merchants fits the agenda of his desire to change the world through the use of technology to address business issues in reality.
BharatPe has led the way in changing the Indian fintech ecosystem. I am thrilled to join this vibrant team and am eager to develop scalable, secure and intelligent systems which will transform the manner in which merchants can have access to financial service, Kumar said in a statement.
The appointee symbolizes the new direction BharatPe has given itself in terms of engineering excellence, reliability, and innovation of technology that is customer-oriented.
About BharatPe
BharatPe was founded in 2018 and soon became one of the most successful fintech startups in India with digital payment and lending solutions to micro and small enterprises. Well known investors in the company include Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, Coatue and Dragoneer investment Group.
BharatPe was one of the first to offer UPI QR code payments to merchants and further extended to lending, POS machines (BharatSwipe) and merchant credit lines.
The introduction of Ajit Kumar as CTO should help the company become more digital and consider new AI, credit underwriting, and fintech integrations
Conclusion
The hiring of Ajit Kumar as CTO is a major milestone in the development of BharatPe because the company is still working towards cementing its presence in the competitive Indian fintech sector. His background in digital payments, engineering management, and scalable technology infrastructure should introduce a new vitality to the work of BharatPe as well as strategic focus.
With the dynamism of the fintech industry, the emphasis on cutting-edge technology and leadership quality characterizing BharatPe, the company will further emphasize the vision of becoming a digital leader in the field of finance and merchant empowerment in India.
