1990/B.Tech/EE Co-Founder and Director IndiaIdeas.com Limited (BillDesk) Maharashtra,India
Shri Ajay Kaushal received his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 1990, followed by an MBA from IIM Lucknow in 1992. He is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of India. He can be credited with shaping India’s digital payments solutions and infrastructure. The fact that India is considered to have the best payments infrastructure in the world can be partly attributed to Ajay’s visionary thinking. He is the Co-founder and Director of BillDesk, India’s largest electronic payment solutions platform that enabled over USD 85 billion of digital payments in 2020 and is one of the biggest drivers of e-commerce in this part of the world.
It was on 1 January 2000, after a 5 year stint as Head of Securities Research at SBI Capital Markets, and a little over 2 years in Arthur Andersen, Ajay and his two friends MN Srinivasu and Karthik Ganapathy embarked on their entrepreneurial journey. From angel investors (it was relatively new then) to the world’s largest payment company as its shareholders, BillDesk has experienced it all.
For over a decade, BillDesk has been the leader in driving electronic payments and digital commerce. BillDesk technology and solutions continue to make consumer electronic payments easy and accessible to businesses, merchants, and governments. Loyalty Rewardz, India’s largest loyalty and engagement solutions company is also a BillDesk company. Ajay and his co-founders have spearheaded BillDesk to be a sustainable business model and it has been a profitable company for over a decade. The US based global payment company Visa, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, March Capital, TA Associates and General Atlantic are institutional shareholders of BillDesk.
This is what Ajay has to say about his entrepreneurial venture: ‘It has been a fantastic and fulfilling journey in conceptualising and creating the digital payments industry in India, developing a growing business, building a fantastic team, taking people along and delivering value to its clients, while always staying ahead in the game’.
As a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Ajay is an active participant in industry forums, events and delegations. Ajay serves as co-chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Committee on Inclusion and Digitization. He has been on the board of trustees of Charities Aid Foundation, India. His pleasant demeanor, simplistic approach to problem solving, and balanced views comes in handy while dealing with local society and community issues. Ajay lives in Mumbai with his wife and two teenage children.
For his immense accomplishments in the field of electronic payment solutions and as an entrepreneur, IIT Madras and its Alumni are proud to confer this award upon Shri Ajay Kaushal.
