Amrish Rau: Steering Pine Labs to Fintech Success

What happens when a man who once claimed he “never planned to join a startup” ends up leading one of India’s biggest fintech powerhouses? Enter Amrish Rau, the quiet disruptor of Pine Labs' meteoric rise. He’s not your typical Silicon Valley hustler or a CEO who loves attention. Instead, Amrish Rau is the kind of leader who walks into chaos, fixes it, and somehow turns it into something extraordinary. 

From corporate boardrooms to startup strategy rooms, his journey feels like a bold gamble that turned into a huge win. But how did he go from being a banker’s son with zero startup ambitions to steering a fintech giant redefining digital payments across Asia? Let us turn the story back a little because this is not entirely about leadership. It is about vision, timing, and one man who just knew when to break the rules.

Amrish Rau - Biography

Amrish Rau - Early Life
Amrish Rau - Career Beginnings
Amrish Rau - Leadership Style
Amrish Rau - Recent Statements
Amrish Rau - Real World Examples

Amrish Rau - Early Life

Amrish Rau grew up in Mumbai in a family of bankers. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Shah & Anchor Kutchhi College, Mumbai.

After college, he interned at Siemens Nixdorf for three months, where he gained his first exposure to banking hardware. He then worked as a field engineer deploying bank passbook printers across India, integrating them with banking software. These early roles taught him about financial technology and operations.

Amrish Rau - Career Beginnings

Rau spent two years at Siemens, followed by about eight years at NCR Corporation, a U.S. payments tech firm. At NCR, he ran technology initiatives like data warehousing and CRM solutions for banks. In 2011, he became the first employee at First Data Asia in India and eventually served as its Managing Director as the company set up payment networks.

In 2013, Rau co-founded Citrus Pay, an online payment gateway startup. He secured early funding from investors like Sequoia India (Peak XV). Citrus grew rapidly and in 2016 was acquired by Napers’ PayU for about $130 million. Rau then became CEO of PayU India (2016–2019), overseeing a boom in digital payments during India’s demonetisation and UPI adoption.

He took over as CEO of Pine Labs in March 2020. At that time, Pine Labs was already a fintech “unicorn” valued at over $1B. He decided to expand Pine Labs' product line beyond point-of-sale machines by developing software products and expanding internationally.

Pine Labs Company Profile - Bettering Retail Transactions | Business Model | Founders | History

Pine Labs is an Indian fintech company that provides financing and transaction technology to merchants with its POS machines. Know about its business model, founders, Growth, Revenue, Funding, and more. Know more on Pine Labs Wikipedia.

StartupTalky- Business News, Insights and StoriesSarika Anand

Amrish Rau - Leadership Style

Amrish Rau believes leadership starts with people, not power.

• Empathy and respect: His rule is simple: be kind. To everyone. Teammates, partners, even competitors. He often says, “Don’t try to be Steve Jobs.” In other words, being tough doesn’t make you a better leader; being decent does.
• Team building: Rau hires people who actually enjoy working together. He says the best teams are made of people who like each other. No stiff walls, no cold meetings, just open chats, laughs, and sometimes, a casual beer after work.
• Full commitment: And when it comes to work? Go all in. Rau believes great founders never stop thinking about their business. They’re obsessed, in the best way. Always curious. Always hungry to grow.
• Investor & mentor: Rau has a long list of startups he has invested in, approximately 70. In his investments, he considers great co-founder relationships and sound company culture in search of passionate founders and diverse teams.
• Financial discipline: He warns entrepreneurs against carrying heavy personal debt, stating that founders should have minimal debt on their heads. He says high debt can be a distraction from the business's goal of building a sustainable business.

Amrish Rau - Recent Statements

Rau frequently speaks about Pine Labs’ strategy and performance. In a 2025 Moneycontrol interview, he highlighted Pine Labs’ four main verticals (terminals, BNPL, invoices, loyalty) and noted that its prepaid gift-card business contributes about 30% of revenue.  He also reported strong growth: Pine Labs’ transaction volume has grown roughly 60% per year, and its merchant count has grown ~30% annually.

Ahead of the IPO, Rau reassured investors that key shareholders remain committed. He said “nobody is looking for an exit”: major backers like Peak XV, PayPal, and Temasek planned to hold their stakes. In April 2025, Pine Labs announced Rau would serve a five-year term as the company’s Chairman (effective March 2025) while continuing as CEO. This consolidated his leadership as Pine Labs prepared for its public offering. In late 2025, Rau reiterated Pine Labs’ strength in an ET interview. He said the company had grown revenue by 20–25% annually and that its card-issuance business is capex-light, driving robust margins. 

Moreover, he emphasized Pine Labs charges clients for its technology rather than relying solely on merchant discount fees. He noted Pine Labs was profitable and net-debt negative by 2025, and that its clients include major banks and leading retailers.

Amrish Rau - Real World Examples

A wide range of merchants use Pine Labs’ products. The platform processes roughly $30 billion in payments each year and serves about 140,000 merchants worldwide. Its network includes approximately 450,000 payment terminals across Asia. These merchants range from large retail chains and malls to small shops and local service providers. Pine Labs ranks among India’s top five merchant payment processors, reflecting its scale.

You’ve probably seen a Pine Labs machine at your local supermarket or mall checkout. Yep, that little payment terminal, that’s them. In 2021, Pine Labs made a big move by acquiring Fave, a Malaysian payments platform. That opened doors to thousands of new merchants across Malaysia and Indonesia. A smart step toward becoming a true pan-Asian fintech player.

But Pine Labs isn’t just about swipe machines anymore. Under Amrish Rau, it’s gone way beyond hardware. The company now offers Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, invoice tools, loyalty programs, and even gift-card solutions. Imagine buying something on EMI right at checkout or getting a branded gift voucher, all powered by Pine Labs.

Then came another major play. In 2023, Pine Labs bought Qwikcilver for $110 million, pulling in over 250 brands and 1,500 enterprise merchants into its gift-card network. And they didn’t stop there. In 2022, Mastercard joined hands with Pine Labs to boost its BNPL services. Today, big names like PayPal, Mastercard, Temasek, and Actis back the company, proving it’s not just growing fast, it’s growing global.

Pine Labs has expanded overseas as well. It partnered with Emirates NBD (a UAE bank) to offer its Credit+ merchant acquiring platform in the Middle East. Rau noted that Credit+ is already live in more than 20 countries. These examples show how Rau turned Pine Labs into a full-service payment ecosystem. For instance, Outlook Business reported that Pine Labs more than doubled its EBITDA in FY25 and swung to profit in the latest quarter. The report also highlighted intense competition from Razorpay, Paytm, and PhonePe in India.

Conclusion

Amrish Rau’s journey from a bank-printer engineer to fintech CEO illustrates his vision and drive. He led Pine Labs’ transformation from a card-terminal maker into a broad digital commerce platform.  As Pine Labs moves toward its public debut, Rau continues to push innovation in payments. His technical expertise and people-centric leadership style show that a clear mission and strong culture can build a market-leading fintech company.

Pine Labs Business Model Explained: How It Makes Money

Discover how Pine Labs earns revenue through PoS devices, transaction fees, BNPL, gift cards, and analytics. Learn about its business model, growth strategy.

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FAQs

Who is Amrish Rau?

Amrish Rau is the CEO and Chairman of Pine Labs, one of India’s leading fintech companies. Known for his people-first leadership style, he has transformed Pine Labs from a payment terminal provider into a full-stack digital payments and commerce platform serving merchants across Asia.

What is Amrish Rau’s educational background?

Amrish Rau earned his B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College, Mumbai. His early technical training played a key role in shaping his understanding of financial technology and banking systems.

What roles has Amrish Rau held before joining Pine Labs?

Before Pine Labs, Amrish Rau worked with Siemens, NCR Corporation, and First Data Asia, where he served as Managing Director. He also co-founded Citrus Pay and served as CEO of PayU India from 2016 to 2019.