Partha Sannigrahi
Noida
Summary
Senior fintech and payments leader with 23+ years of experience building and scaling device-led SMB merchant businesses, offline distribution networks, and partner-led financial services. Proven zero-to-one builder with hands-on ownership of P&L, unit economics, sourcing, pricing, and GTM, having scaled merchant devices to ~40K monthly run-rate with positive payback P&L. Currently leading large, complex field organizations (3,000+ on-roll/off-roll) and multi-product financial services P&L spanning payments, insurance, and credit, with deep understanding of SMB merchant behavior, POS economics, and India-scale offline execution.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Business Head – Merchant Payments & Financial Services
Airtel Payments Bank
Gurugram
05.2020 - Current
- Built and scaled Merchant Soundbox and Current Account businesses from zero to ~40,000 monthly acquisitions, with full end-to-end P&L ownership.
- Sharp focus on ARPU per merchant per month with a postive payback period, ensuring sustainable unit economics in a hardware-led model.
- Achieved 47% M12 merchant retention, reflecting strong product stickiness and recurring usage.
- Drove 45% reduction in device cost through strategic vendor negotiations and logistics optimization, materially improving contribution margins.
- Lead a 3,000+ strong organization (on-roll and off-roll) across merchant acquisition, device deployment, servicing, and operations.
- Designed cluster-led offline GTM models, incentive structures, and field governance to improve productivity, reduce CAC, and enable predictable scale.
- Lead the Financial Services vertical with ownership of GTM, partnerships, compliance, and economics.
- On track to close ~₹100 Cr Insurance GMV in the current year through partner-led and merchant-assisted distribution.
- Scaled Gold Loan disbursals to ~₹2,200 Cr via partnerships with leading banks and NBFCs, building a high-margin, asset-light credit franchise this FY.
- Built compliant SOPs and merchant enablement frameworks to increase merchant LTV through cross-sell.
Business Head – B2B Open Banking & Distribution
Paytm Payments Bank
Noida
10.2016 - 04.2020
- Built and scaled a 200,000+ Business Correspondent (BC) agent network, creating one of India’s largest assisted banking distribution footprints.
- Led 5,000+ field sales agents at scale, balancing rapid growth with strict compliance and sales governance.
- Set up and scaled the API-led domestic money transfer business, positioning the bank as India’s preferred partner for money transfer.
- Drove ~₹6,000 Cr in monthly remittance volumes through corporate BC and platform partnerships.
- Built profitable distribution-led businesses across Remittance and CASA, processing 7M+ transactions per month.
Business Head | Founding Team Member
Eko India Financial Services
Gurugram
03.2010 - 09.2016
- Core member of the founding leadership team of an assisted digital finance platform.
- Pioneered USSD-based banking transactions; enabled SBI money transfer via pre-funded model (industry first).
- Built API-led alternate channels to accelerate scale in domestic money transfer.
- Contributed to fundraising and investor engagement; anchored market visits for global leaders including Bill Gates, Timothy Geithner, Sheila Blair, and Vinod Khosla.
Zonal Business Manager
Virgin Mobile India
Relationship Manager
Vodafone Essar
Senior Sales Officer
PepsiCo International
Senior Sales Executive
Berger Paints India
Education
B.Com (Hons) - Accounts & Finance
Patna University
Skills
- Small POS & Device-Led Businesses
- SMB Merchant Economics
- P&L Ownership
- Payback & Cost-to-Serve
- Offline GTM & Distribution
- Hardware Sourcing & Vendor Negotiation
- Large Field Force Leadership
- Regulated Banking
- Partner-Led Financial Services
- Merchant acquisition
- Financial services
Additional Information
- Endurance cyclist (Double SR)
- Scaled 7 Himalayan passes, Invited participant – Paris–Brest–Paris (PBP)
- Avid runner & home cook
Timeline
Business Head – Merchant Payments & Financial Services
Airtel Payments Bank
05.2020 - Current
Business Head – B2B Open Banking & Distribution
Paytm Payments Bank
10.2016 - 04.2020
Business Head | Founding Team Member
Eko India Financial Services
03.2010 - 09.2016
Zonal Business Manager
Virgin Mobile India
Relationship Manager
Vodafone Essar
Senior Sales Officer
PepsiCo International
Senior Sales Executive
Berger Paints India
B.Com (Hons) - Accounts & Finance
Patna University