How karate helped a shy kid transform how India pays

How karate helped a shy kid transform how India pays

From Business Daily by BBC World Service

June 4, 2026 · 17 min

About this episode

Harshil Mathur discusses how his experiences in karate and overcoming challenges shaped the success of Razorpay in India's fintech landscape.

We hear how karate, being laughed out of a bank boardroom in a cash-obsessed country helped shape one of India’s most valuable fintech companies. Harshil Mathur shares how discipline, resilience and a leap of faith helped him build Razorpay into a $7.5 billion company at the heart of India’s digital payments revolution. If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: Amber Mehmood and Niamh Mc Dermott (Picture: Harshil Mathur)

People in this episode

Host: Rahul Tandon

Guest: Harshil Mathur

Topics covered

  • fintech
  • digital payments
  • entrepreneurship
  • karate
  • resilience
  • India

Keywords

  • fintech
  • Razorpay
  • digital payments
  • karate
  • entrepreneurship
  • India
  • Harshil Mathur

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Razorpay, BBC World Service

Places: India

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