Tata Digital Eyes New Leadership With an External CEO Appointment
Tata Digital, the parent company of the Tata Neu super-app, is set to appoint an external Chief Executive Officer—the third leadership change since the platform’s inception in 2019, according to reports.
The leadership reset is said to be planned by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran who temporarily stepped in to take charge of Tata Digital.
This development follows ongoing scale-up challenges that have hindered business growth across Tata Group’s digital commerce ventures. The incoming executive will be tasked with overhauling the organization, streamlining operations, and driving stronger integration across Tata Digital’s consumer-facing portfolio, which includes: BigBasket (online grocery delivery), Tata 1mg (e-pharmacy), Croma (electronics retail), and Tata Cliq (lifestyle e-commerce).
Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of Myntra, was Tata Digital’s first external leadership hire when he joined as president in 2021. However, he exited the Group in 2023.
According to reports, Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran has taken a tough stance on underperforming management, issuing clear directives to close delivery gaps and end strategic drift. Weekly reviews are now being held to closely monitor key verticals such as BigBasket, Croma, and Tata Cliq—with explicit consequences for non-performance.
Meanwhile, an interim committee comprising senior Tata Digital CXOs—including Gaurav Hazrati, Hardeep Singh Guru, Seshadri Venkateshwaran, Satyam Mehra, Vinay Vaidya, and Abhimanyu Lal—is managing day-to-day operations and ensuring coordination across verticals as the search continues for a CEO who can bring Tata Digital back on track.
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Earlier this year, Tata Sons appointed Puneet Chhatwal, chief executive officer, Indian Hotels, and Sunil D'Souza, CEO, Tata Consumer, to Tata Digital's board in order to strengthen the company's consumer business expertise, reports claim.
This move comes following departure of Naveen Tahilyani, who had stepped down as Tata Digital's MD & CEO in May.
The other reason for this move is the firm lacking leaders backed with strong consumer business experience, followed by too many finance-backed members.
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Tata Group has also named Ankur Verma as the acting chairman of Croma. It has been reported that until a CEO for Tata Digital is appointed, the company will function as a board-managed company.
In May, Aarthi Subramanian was named the executive director - president and chief operating officer, and Mangesh Sathe was appointed as the chief strategy officer. With her recent appointment, she became executive director on the Board of TCS.
Subramanian most recently functioned as the group chief digital officer at Tata Sons and has been on the TCS Board as a non-executive member.