ETtechTata Digital’s president Mukesh Bansal has stepped away from day-to-day operations at the Mumbai-based conglomerate's new commerce arm Tata Neu, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
This comes at a time of ongoing top-level changes at the company.
He is, however, no longer involved in Neu’s key businesses, people briefed on the matter said, but is likely to continue in an advisory role.
Bansal had attended some board meetings for Tata Neu over the past few months, another person in the know said.
A spokesperson for Tata Digital did not respond to queries seeking comment.
Bansal said ET’s questions were “factually incorrect”. He did not comment specifically on his current role.
Pratik Pal is the CEO of Tata Digital and oversees all business decisions at the firm, people who have worked at Neu said.
One person directly aware of the issue said Tata Digital is not in favour of a ‘growth at all costs’ strategy and wants to manage its unit economics simultaneously.
“The difference in approach on how to scale a new internet business played a role in these internal changes,” this person added.
When Bansal joined Tata Digital, he was also expected to play a key role in the group’s efforts to raise new capital for the ecommerce business.
While it did initiate talks with marquee investors, the venture is being largely funded by parent Tata Sons.
Bansal, an e-commerce veteran, had cofounded Cultfit along with former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori in 2016. It was initially named Curefit, where Tatas have a minority stake.
Cultfit is still largely run by former Myntra executive Naresh Krishnaswamy.
Bansal is also exploring the option of setting up a new venture, sources who have met him over the past several weeks and who are aware of his thinking, said.
However, these plans are in the early stages, they added.
Some other senior executives at Tata Digital, including Prateek Mehta and Sharath Bulusu, have also recently quit, ET reported in December.
Mehta and Bulusu were hired by Bansal along with other senior executives from the Flipkart group, Udaan, Blinkit and others.
Tata Neu Updates
Neu’s overall growth has been relatively muted nine months into its public launch.
The super app is adding a little over 10% of total gross sales compared to existing and established platforms like e-grocer BigBasket, people aware of the matter said. E-pharmacy 1mg is another major acquisition Tatas had made for Neu.
Its own properties like Tata Cliq, Croma, and AirAsia have been on the app since launch.
The group recently added jewellery brand Tanishq and watch brand Titan on the platform.
“It will take some time before there is any visible impact on market shares. They were also cognizant of the problems they were facing with the super app and it took some time to fix those,” one of the people mentioned earlier said.
Sources close to Tata Digital, however, indicated the group was happy about the growth rate of the Neu app, which has around 40-50 million Neu pass users now.
Neu pass is a loyalty programme on Neu where users are credited Neu Coins and other benefits for transacting on the super app.
At the time of launch, Tata Sons executive chairman N Chandrasekaran had said Neu will also see external brands – that are not part of Tata group – joining the super app. Those plans have yet to be fructify though.
Chandrasekaran joined Tata Digital’s board formally last April, ET reported.
Brands as well as sellers told ET that Tata Neu has not been able to make a significant contribution to overall sales yet, compared to bigger rivals like Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India.
ET reported last year that Tata Digital had brought all ecommerce businesses under Tata Digital and infused more funds in BigBasket as well at e-pharmacy 1mg.
This comes at a time of ongoing top-level changes at the company.
Bansal, cofounder of fashion e-tailer Myntra, had joined Tata Digital in June 2021.
He is, however, no longer involved in Neu’s key businesses, people briefed on the matter said, but is likely to continue in an advisory role.
Bansal had attended some board meetings for Tata Neu over the past few months, another person in the know said.
A spokesperson for Tata Digital did not respond to queries seeking comment.
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Bansal said ET’s questions were “factually incorrect”. He did not comment specifically on his current role.
Pratik Pal is the CEO of Tata Digital and oversees all business decisions at the firm, people who have worked at Neu said.
One person directly aware of the issue said Tata Digital is not in favour of a ‘growth at all costs’ strategy and wants to manage its unit economics simultaneously.
“The difference in approach on how to scale a new internet business played a role in these internal changes,” this person added.
When Bansal joined Tata Digital, he was also expected to play a key role in the group’s efforts to raise new capital for the ecommerce business.
While it did initiate talks with marquee investors, the venture is being largely funded by parent Tata Sons.
Bansal, an e-commerce veteran, had cofounded Cultfit along with former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori in 2016. It was initially named Curefit, where Tatas have a minority stake.
Cultfit is still largely run by former Myntra executive Naresh Krishnaswamy.
Bansal is also exploring the option of setting up a new venture, sources who have met him over the past several weeks and who are aware of his thinking, said.
However, these plans are in the early stages, they added.
Some other senior executives at Tata Digital, including Prateek Mehta and Sharath Bulusu, have also recently quit, ET reported in December.
Mehta and Bulusu were hired by Bansal along with other senior executives from the Flipkart group, Udaan, Blinkit and others.
Tata Neu Updates
Neu’s overall growth has been relatively muted nine months into its public launch.
The super app is adding a little over 10% of total gross sales compared to existing and established platforms like e-grocer BigBasket, people aware of the matter said. E-pharmacy 1mg is another major acquisition Tatas had made for Neu.
Its own properties like Tata Cliq, Croma, and AirAsia have been on the app since launch.
The group recently added jewellery brand Tanishq and watch brand Titan on the platform.
“It will take some time before there is any visible impact on market shares. They were also cognizant of the problems they were facing with the super app and it took some time to fix those,” one of the people mentioned earlier said.
Sources close to Tata Digital, however, indicated the group was happy about the growth rate of the Neu app, which has around 40-50 million Neu pass users now.
Neu pass is a loyalty programme on Neu where users are credited Neu Coins and other benefits for transacting on the super app.
At the time of launch, Tata Sons executive chairman N Chandrasekaran had said Neu will also see external brands – that are not part of Tata group – joining the super app. Those plans have yet to be fructify though.
Chandrasekaran joined Tata Digital’s board formally last April, ET reported.
Brands as well as sellers told ET that Tata Neu has not been able to make a significant contribution to overall sales yet, compared to bigger rivals like Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India.
ET reported last year that Tata Digital had brought all ecommerce businesses under Tata Digital and infused more funds in BigBasket as well at e-pharmacy 1mg.
( Originally published on Jan 03, 2023 )
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