Foodtech major Swiggy is in advanced talks to rope in Flipkart’s former senior vice president Amitesh Jha as CEO of its quick commerce business Instamart
As per the Arc’s report, once Jha takes on his new role at Instamart, Swiggy Instamart’s CEO Phani Kishan Addepalli would step aside to take up organisation-wide role involving growth initiatives at Swiggy
This development comes after the quick commerce arm roped in Sairam Krishnamurthy as senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO), earlier this month
Foodtech major Swiggy is reportedly in advanced talks to rope in Flipkart’s former senior vice president Amitesh Jha as the head of its quick commerce business Instamart.
As per the Arc’s report, citing sources close to the matter, once Jha takes on his new role at Instamart, Swiggy Instamart’s CEO Phani Kishan Addepalli would step aside to take up organisation-wide role involving growth initiatives at the foodtech startup.
“At this stage of business (Instamart’s), Swiggy wants someone who has handled product categories. Very few people in the startup ecosystem have in-depth experience in this area. Jha is one of them,” a person familiar with the management’s plans was quoted as saying in the report.
Inc42 has reached out to Swiggy for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.
As per his LinkedIn profile, Jha, most recently, served as senior vice president of category and marketplace with Flipkart for over three years. He has been working with the ecommerce giant for nearly 14 years under various leadership roles. Prior to that, he has worked with three other companies of various sectors for over six years.
He will be taking the helm from Addepalli, who has been in the position of CEO at Instamart for over a year, after the former chief executive Karthik Gurumurthy stepped down to take a sabbatical.
Addepalli, based on his LinkedIn profile, has been working with Swiggy for nearly a decade now. He was elevated as Swiggy cofounder in 2021 and was also the CEO of the subscription grocery delivery service Insanely Good, before it merged with Instamart earlier this year.
This development comes after the quick commerce arm roped in Sairam Krishnamurthy as senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO), earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Swiggy also strengthened Instamart with four new vice president appointments across various roles, in July.
Swiggy’s move to strengthen the leadership of its quick commerce wing has been a revival as Instamart was seeing multiple exits since 2023.
Earlier this year, Karan Arora, vice president and head of supply chain management at the foodtech major-owned Instamart, stepped down. Prior to that, Sidharth Satpathy, vice president at the food delivery giant-owned Instamart, resigned from his position.
Key people, including, Mallika Srinivasan (independent director), Karthik Gurumurthy (senior vice president and head of Swiggy Instamart), Dale Vaz (CTO), Anuj Rathi (SVP, central revenue and growth), Ashish Lingamneni (VP, marketing) and Dineout cofounder Vivek Kapoor, also stepped down from their respective positions since late last year.