Paytm Mall said it is moving its operations from Noida to Bengaluru as the e-commerce platform looks to tap into the rich talent pool available in the city’s consumer internet and startup ecosystem.
The company appointed Abhishek Rajan as its new Chief Operating Officer. Former COO Srinivas Mothey has been elevated to Senior Vice President Merchants Solutions at Paytm, where he would be working on innovative retail solutions for merchants.
The SoftBank-backed online retailer also plans to hire over 300 people for product and technology roles as it aims expansion across business categories. The existing workforce has the flexibility to either shift to Bengaluru or continue working from their current location in various roles, the company said in a press release.
ET reported on May 22 that Paytm Mall has held talks to invest in online grocery platform Grofers, and that a merger may also be on the cards. SoftBank, a common investor, in the two companies is working to bring the two companies together and push for consolidation, sources indicated.
Rajan, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, has built and scaled up Paytm’s travel business over the last four years, driving large revenues for the company. In his new role, Rajan will oversee Paytm Mall’s operations across product, technology, supply chain, marketing and finance.
He will specifically focus on strengthening the commerce customer experience and expanding the hyperlocal merchant base, thereby enabling more kirana stores to be part of the digital commerce journey, the e-tailer said. Rajan will continue to lead Paytm’s travel vertical till the time a new business head is appointed.
The team has done an incredible job of bringing down thes quarterly cash burn from $17 million to $2 million during the last financial year, Rajan said. “We would like to think of Paytm’s ecommerce business as a Series A startup with $200 million cash in the bank, where key technology and operations components required for running a commerce business have already been built.”
“I am very happy to see the way Abhishek has built and led the travel business for us. In the post-Covid world, we want to bring commerce to even more customers and serve the SMEs across the country,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder & CEO of Paytm, said. “We are well-capitalized, have a great team, and a massive network of customers to make our O2O model penetrate further in India.”
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