FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Finance
Shashvat Nakrani
Age 27 · Merchant payments and fintech · India
A payments founder whose early product work gave Indian merchants a single, zero-fee route to accept interoperable UPI payments.
- Age at the edition eligibility date
- 27
- Field
- Finance
- Country or region
- India
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 80.0 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Shashvat Nakrani's case begins with attributable product work. While still a student, he developed the proposition that became BharatPe: one QR code through which a merchant could accept payments from different UPI applications without a transaction fee. He has described building the prototype and selling it directly to shopkeepers; a court judgment records the incorporation chronology in which he and Bhavik Koladiya founded the company before Ashneer Grover joined as chief executive. The distinction matters because it separates Nakrani's product and merchant-acquisition work from the later visibility of the wider founding team.
BharatPe reported INR60 million in adjusted profit before tax for the year ended March 2025, against a INR3.42 billion loss in the prior year, and operating revenue of INR16.67 billion. Those are company results, not Nakrani's alone. By May 2026 he had moved from day-to-day operations into a strategic-adviser role while retaining his board seat, with stated involvement in long-term strategy, capital raising and transactions. His selection rests on identifiable product authorship and sustained governance participation, not on the company's funding history or on claims made about other founders.
FigureAsia selection
Why Shashvat Nakrani is on the list
FigureAsia selected Nakrani because the evidence traces a direct line from his own work to a completed financial product. He identified a merchant cost problem, helped build an interoperable payment interface and undertook early merchant acquisition. The company reported reaching one million transactions in a day within three months of launch. That result belonged to a growing team, but the initial product logic and field execution are specifically documented as his work.
The assessment also recognises limits. BharatPe's FY2025 improvement occurred under a broader management organisation, and it would be inaccurate to assign the turnaround to Nakrani personally. The company's governance disputes require careful separation of claims and parties. His credit is therefore concentrated on the product he helped originate, his continuing board responsibility and the durable merchant-payments platform that followed.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
BharatPe recorded adjusted profit before tax
BharatPe reported INR60 million in adjusted profit before tax and INR16.67 billion in operating revenue for FY2025. The result is attributed to the company and its management team; Nakrani remained a founder and director, not the sole author of the turnaround.
Interoperable zero-fee merchant QR brought to market
Nakrani helped create BharatPe's interoperable UPI QR proposition and took part in early merchant acquisition. The product reached one million daily transactions three months after launch, a company milestone built from the initial product and field work.
Operating role changed to strategic adviser
Nakrani stepped back from day-to-day operations, retained his board position and moved to a strategic-adviser role covering long-term corporate matters. The dated change prevents an outdated operating title from being used.
Field context
The work in its field
India's UPI system made instant account-to-account payments widely available, but small merchants still needed simple acceptance tools that worked across consumer applications. Interoperable QR acceptance reduced the need for multiple proprietary codes and allowed a payments company to build additional merchant services around a shared public rail.
That model also creates obligations in lending, customer protection, compliance and governance. Product adoption and financial performance are relevant evidence, but they do not remove the need to distinguish an individual's decisions from company-wide execution.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
80.0out of 100
Completed financial consequence
24 / 30
BharatPe recorded adjusted profit before tax is treated as a delivered financial outcome. The score is confined to the completed result described in the record and excludes projections or paper valuation.
Individual agency and execution
20 / 25
The documented role—Founder, director and strategic adviser—and the attributed actions in the profile establish accountable execution. Institution-wide results are not assigned to the person alone.
Verified reach and significance
16 / 20
India's UPI system made instant account-to-account payments widely available, but small merchants still needed simple acceptance tools that worked across consumer applications. Interoperable QR acceptance reduced the need for multiple proprietary codes and allowed a payments company to build additional merchant services around a shared public rail.
Innovation and field influence
12 / 15
The record combines merchant payments and fintech with the completed work described in Operating role changed to strategic adviser. Credit reflects demonstrated practice, not a claim of novelty by itself.
Stewardship, access and Asian relevance
8 / 10
The Asian connection is explicit: An Indian founder educated at IIT Delhi who built payment infrastructure for small merchants in India and remains a director of the Gurugram-based company. Stewardship credit is limited to the regulatory, governance, access or stakeholder evidence described in the profile.