Google Pay, the digital payments subsidiary of tech major Google, has appointed in the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Axis Bank, Shikha Sharma, as its new advisor.
“Thrilled to welcome Mrs Shikha Sharma, ex-CEO of Axis Bank, as an advisor to @GooglePayIndia. Shikhaji has been an early champion of bank-tech partnerships, and a mentor to us. Now her strategic thinking and guidance will help us accelerate our global payments journey,” stated Caesar Sengupta, General Manager and Vice President of Payments and Next Billion Users at Google, in his tweet.
Sharma’s appointment by Google Pay could be a part of the brand’s strategy to initiate its card based offering, which could be unveiled soon.
Sharma left ICICI Bank in 2008 to join Axis Bank. She led Axis Bank till 2018 and transformed the lender into a major banking entity of the country. Sharma is also associated with the board of Tech Mahindra as an independent director.
She is a seasoned professional with decades of dense experience in the banking sector and it is expected that her appointment in Google Pay India will boost the firm’s dream of becoming a major financial services entity.
Google Pay is one of the leading applications on Unified Payments Payments Interface (UPI), battling with the likes of Amazon Pay, Paytm, etc.
