Pine Labs names ex-Razorpay and Amazon executive Jayaram Karthik as COO

Karthik will lead operations and merchant experience across India and international markets as Pine Labs scales AI, underwriting and autonomous UPI-payment capabilities. Its international business, now over 15% of FY26 revenue, exceeded ₹400 crore.

— Source publishedWed, 2 Sept, 2026, 17:01 IST·First seen Wed, 2 Sept, 2026, 17:23 IST·Source Inc42

What happened

Pine Labs appointed former Razorpay executive Jayaram Karthik as COO to lead operations and merchant experience across India and international markets, as the

Key facts

  • Operates in more than 20 countries
  • International business grew at 44% CAGR over the past three years
  • International business contributed about 15% of FY26 revenue
  • International revenue exceeded ₹400 crore in FY26
  • FY26 revenue from operations: ₹2,711 crore, up 19% YoY
  • FY26 adjusted EBITDA: ₹559 crore, up 57%
  • FY26 net profit: ₹113 crore versus ₹145 crore loss in FY25
  • June-quarter revenue: ₹736.9 crore, up 19.6% YoY
  • June-quarter net profit: ₹19.6 crore, more than 4x YoY and down 67% sequentially from ₹59.4 crore
  • FY26 AI and R&D investment: about ₹24 crore, including ₹20 crore for AI, infrastructure and automation
  • Software testing cycle time reduced by more than 95%
  • Estimated developer productivity improvement: 25%
  • Initial incident analysis time reduced by 80%
  • BSE closing share price: ₹162.25, up 1.5%

Why this matters

Karthik’s Razorpay and Amazon background may strengthen Pine Labs’ appeal as a payments-platform partner or acquisition target for firms seeking merchant distribution and cross-border payment scale.

What to watch

  • International revenue share rising materially above 15% of FY26 revenue and sustained growth above the reported ₹400 crore base.
  • Disclosure of merchant onboarding-time, payment-success-rate, retention or support-cost improvements.
  • New partnerships or launches combining Pine Labs payments with underwriting, AI tools or autonomous UPI flows.
  • Evidence of increased enterprise merchant wins in Southeast Asia, the Middle East or other overseas markets.
  • Credit-loss trends, fraud incidents, UPI policy changes or regulatory scrutiny affecting AI-enabled payment workflows.
  • Senior hires, regional expansion announcements or changes in international operating structure under Karthik.
  • Centralize India and international merchant operations under common onboarding, service-level and risk metrics.
  • Prioritize AI-assisted merchant support, payment reconciliation and exception-management workflows.
  • Package payments, merchant credit and UPI acceptance into targeted offers for larger omnichannel merchants.
  • Expand senior operating and compliance leadership in priority international markets.
  • Use international revenue growth and merchant-retention metrics to demonstrate operating leverage from the COO appointment.

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