EbixCash announces appointment of renowned Economist SP Kothari to its Board of Directors

In a key development, leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services, EbixCash Private Limited, a subsidiary of Ebix, on Sunday appointed renowned economist SP Kothari as a new independent director. Notably, Kothari has senior executive experience in government, academia, and industry with expertise in strategic and policy issues, securities regulation, auditing, and corporate governance.

Confirming the news, the company in a statement asserted, "Kothari will bring a rich blend of leadership level regulatory, accounting, strategic, and corporate governance experience across the industry, government, and academic sectors to the Board."

Robin Raina, Chairman, President & CEO Ebix Inc, further added, “His experience and skills will provide us with the strategic guidance and direction that EbixCash needs as we embark on the next cycle of growth and a prospective IPO for EbixCash.”

'Grateful for the honour': Economist SP Kothari

Kothari also responded to the news and said, "I am grateful for the honor of serving as a director of EbixCash that promises to transform the financial & insurance service sectors, and the leisure and healthcare industry by offering seamless connectivity and ease of access to millions of consumers. The resulting productivity gains are crucial for the growth of national and individual incomes.”

It is pertinent to mention here that from 2019 to 2021, Kothari served as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In academia, Kothari was deputy dean of MIT Sloan School of Management (2010-15), and previously he headed the Department of Economics, Finance, and Accounting at MIT. In addition, he Co-Chaired the Board of Governors of Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, served as faculty director of the MIT-India Program and edited the world-renowned academic publication Journal of Accounting & Economics.

In 2008-09, Kothari was global head of equity research for Barclays Global Investors (acquired by BlackRock); he was a director of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (2015-19); and he has consulted extensively on valuation and reporting, risk management, auditing, and management compensation.

Kothari is a recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, including one of India’s highest civilian honors – the Padma Shri award in 2020, Honorary Doctorates from London Business School, University of Cyprus, and University of Technology, Sydney, and American Accounting Association’s Distinguished Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award.

EbixCash and Ebix, Inc.- All you need to know

With 150+ offices across 6 continents, Ebix, Inc., (NASDAQ: EBIX) endeavors to provide On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare, and e-learning industries. In the Insurance sector, Ebix develops and deploys a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance exchanges on an on-demand basis, while also, providing Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") enterprise solutions in the area of CRM, front-end & back-end systems, outsourced administration, and risk compliance services, around the world.

With a "Phygital” strategy that combines over 320,000 physical distribution outlets in India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) countries, to an Omni-channel online digital platform, the Company’s EbixCash Financial exchange portfolio encompasses leadership in the areas of domestic and international money remittance, foreign exchange (Forex), travel, pre-paid & gift cards, utility payments, software solutions for lending, wealth management, travel, bus exchanges and insurance in India and other markets.

EbixCash’s Forex operations have emerged as a leader in India’s airport Foreign Exchange business with operations in 20 international airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata, combined conducting over $4.8 billion in gross transaction value per year (pre-COVID-19).

EbixCash’s inward remittance business in India processes approximately $5 billion in gross annual remittance volume (pre-COVID-19) and is the clear market leader. EbixCash, through its travel portfolio of Via and Mercury, is also one of Southeast Asia’s leading travel exchanges with over 200,000 agents, 25 branches, and over 9,800 corporate clients, combined processing an estimated $2.5 billion in gross merchandise value per year (pre-COVID-19).

(Credit-PTI/@EbixCash_WM-Twitter)