Menon says that the core idea behind the company was to provide better access to fresh and trustworthy groceries to Indian households
As Bigbasket’s co-founder Hari Menon stepped down from his chief executive officer (CEO) role, he has said that he was initially in denial about the idea of quick commerce. Menon said that the core idea behind the company was to provide better access to fresh and trustworthy groceries to Indian households.
“I was in denial with the idea of QC. If you had asked 100 people back then whether they wanted groceries in 10 mins… most of them would have said no. But the moment we gave it to our customers, they lapped it up,” Menon penned his thoughts in a LinkedIn post.
The Co-founder emphasised that the company has become unrecognisable from it started and now operates over 900 darks stores, with customers in more than 60 cities. Remembering the company’s early days, he said that the team had no real template for what that it would take to operate at this scale.
“But we knew the four things we had to get right and that nothing else mattered until we did: order fill rate, on-time delivery, having 95 per cent of our SKUs stocked at any given time, and the best of customer satisfaction,” he added.
Passing The Baton To Amit Nanda
Bigbasket has appointed Amit Nanda as CEO, signalling a leadership transition as the company steps up its focus on quick commerce and technology-led retail expansion in India’s competitive online grocery market.
“Today, as I hand over the baton to Amit, I genuinely could not be more excited about what comes next. He brings such sharp instincts, deep consumer understanding, and exactly the kind of energy this next phase needs,” Menon wrote.
Nanda joins Bigbasket from Amazon India, where he served as Director, Selling Partner Services, overseeing key parts of the marketplace and third-party seller ecosystem. During his 11-year tenure at Amazon, Nanda held leadership roles across marketplace operations, product, technology and private brands. He has also worked with Hindustan Unilever and Citibank, bringing experience across consumer goods, financial services and digital commerce.
The move comes as Bigbasket intensifies efforts to scale faster deliveries, expand assortment and strengthen its platform capabilities across metros and emerging cities, where competition among ecommerce and quick commerce players continues to rise.
Co-founders Hari Menon and Vipul Parekh will continue on the Board and remain involved in mentoring the leadership team, ensuring continuity in strategy and governance as operational leadership transitions to Nanda.
