Cashfree Payments has appointed Sameer Gandhi as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), as the fintech company looks to strengthen its financial strategy and move towards profitability. Gandhi joins from Visa, where he led the finance function since 2017. Cashfree’s existing CFO, Vikas Guru, will assist during a transition period, with his final working date yet to be confirmed.
According to the company, Gandhi will oversee financial operations, revenue planning and overall financial strategy, with a focus on improving efficiency and supporting growth. He brings over 25 years of experience, having previously worked with organisations including Vodafone, Citigroup and CRISIL.
The appointment comes at a time when the company is working to improve its financial performance. In FY25, Cashfree reported a net loss of Rs 154.1 crore, up 14% from Rs 135 crore in the previous fiscal. Revenue remained largely unchanged at around Rs 640 crore.
At the operating level, EBITDA loss increased to Rs 131 crore from Rs 109.5 crore, with margins declining to negative 20% from negative 17% . Cashfree has not yet disclosed its financial results for FY26.
The company recently secured all three Reserve Bank of India licences, including payment aggregator, cross border payment aggregator and prepaid payment instrument licences. It stated that this has contributed to growth in its cross border payments business, which recorded a 250% year on year increase.
Cashfree processes over $80 billion in annual transactions and serves more than one million businesses. Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, the company provides payment gateway, payouts and banking API solutions to clients such as Zomato, CRED and Delhivery.
The company has raised more than $90 million from investors including KRAFTON, Y Combinator, Smilegate Investment and Musha Ventures. Separately, the Reserve Bank of India had recently imposed a penalty on the company for non compliance with payment aggregator norms, citing certain non permissible debits from its escrow account.
Gandhi said. “Being the first payments platform in India to hold all three RBI payments licenses gives a significant edge to Cashfree Payments over other players. I look forward to working as a strategic business partner – balancing cost discipline with funding innovation, and contributing to shared vision and goals by ensuring robust financial foundation and governance across all functions.”
