MUMBAI: POP, the fintech startup targeting young Indian consumers, has appointed Chandresh Pancholi as its new head of engineering and product.

Pancholi joins from Navi, where he served as director of engineering, leading a 90-person team that helped propel the company's UPI payment application from 12th to 4th position in India's competitive digital payments market.

During his tenure at Navi, he oversaw several key initiatives including the development of a credit line on UPI with Karnataka Bank and a central abuse detection platform for UPI reward systems.

Prior to Navi, Pancholi held technical leadership positions at Paytm and Flipkart, building considerable experience in India's e-commerce and financial technology sectors.

POP, founded in 2023 by former Flipkart executives, offers a rewards-based payment ecosystem where users earn "POPcoins" worth Rs 1 each for transactions made through its platform. The company is backed by India Quotient and several angel investors from the consumer internet sector.

At POP, Pancholi will be responsible for scaling the company's technical infrastructure and developing new product features as the startup attempts to challenge established players in India's increasingly crowded digital payments market.