Pine Labs Appoints Ex-Amazon, Razorpay Executive Jayaram Karthik As COO

Fintech company Pine Labs has appointed ex-Razorpay SVP Jayaram Karthik as its new COO, aiming to bolster its operational prowess and propel its growth trajectory. Karthik will oversee operations and merchant experiences across India and Pine Labs' international markets. His primary focus will be on developing technology-driven operating models to create smooth, trusted, and locally tailored merchant experiences.

Prior to his role at Pine Labs, Karthik served as the SVP of business operations at payments startup Razorpay for over five years, and held senior positions at Amazon, Citibank, and Tata Play. Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau emphasized that the company's future growth hinges not only on its products but also on the effective integration of technology and operations to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Pine Labs operates across more than 20 countries, hence, operational standardization is crucial as it expands its global footprint. Karthik intends to simplify customer experiences by merging technology, operations, and experience. The appointment of Karthik comes as Pine Labs continues to grow its international presence, which grew at a 44% CAGR over the past three years, contributing around 15% of revenue in FY26.

In FY26, the company's revenue from operations rose 19% YoY to ₹2,711 Cr, while adjusted EBITDA increased 57% to ₹559 Cr. Net profit for FY26 was ₹113 Cr, against a loss of ₹145 Cr in FY25. In the most recent quarter, consolidated revenue from operations climbed 19.6% YoY to ₹736.9 Cr, while net profit saw a significant jump to ₹19.6 Cr.

Pine Labs has also been enhancing its product portfolio, recently launching the Pine Labs Payment Protocol (P3P) that allows AI agents to make UPI payments autonomously after a consumer authorizes a mandate. The company is also working to extend the protocol to card payments and has developed SignalIQ, an AI-powered bank statement analyser and underwriting engine.

The company has invested around ₹24 Cr in AI and R&D initiatives in FY26, seeing a 95% reduction in software testing cycle times, an 80% decrease in initial incident analysis time, and an estimated 25% enhancement in developer productivity.