The Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer have moved on citing personal reasons
Quick commerce platform Instamart’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ankit Jain and Chief Business Officer (CBO) Hari Kumar have tendered their resignation, as per media reports. Both COO and CBO have moved on citing personal reasons.
Reports noted that the company is hiring for more management-level positions and has identified people who are set to join soon. Jain spent over five years at Flipkart before he joined the company last May. He was overseeing the quick commerce business operations at Instamart, which included dark stores, stock planning and network design.
On the other hand, Kumar joined Instamart in November 2024 and both worked closely with the Chief Executive Amitesh Jha, as per the reports. Earlier, Swiggy notified that its co-founder and head of innovation Nandan Reddy would move on and vacate his board seat. Co-founder and chief growth officer Phani Kishan Addepalli and chief financial officer Rahul Bothra will join its board of directors.
The development comes as the competitive intensity in the quick commerce space is heating up, with ecommerce giants also expanding aggressively. Amazon has rolled out its plans to build India’s largest ‘delivery in minutes’ network by scaling Amazon Now, its quick commerce arm, to customers in over 300 cities across the country. Amazon Now has become the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in the company’s history with orders having doubled every quarter since commencement.
Similarly, Walmart’s Flipkart is looking to expand its quick commerce business ‘Minutes’ in the country by adding 500 more neighbourhood warehouses in the coming months, Reuters report.
The development comes as the company, which competes with Amazon in ecommerce, is preparing for its initial public offering. The company is focusing more on smaller towns and cities, with around 70 per cent its 130 plus city presence coming from these markets.
Flipkart Minutes has crossed the milestone of 1,000 micro fulfilment centres across more than 130 cities and 8,000 pincodes, less than two years after its commencement in August 2024. The quick commerce arm of Flipkart said order volumes have increased fivefold over the past year as it expanded its network and broadened its product offerings beyond groceries into categories such as electronics, beauty, wellness and lifestyle.
