IT industry veteran C P Gurnani joins upGrad's Board of Directors

Focus on global growth as independent director

IT industry veteran CP Gurnani has joined the board of edtech unicorn upGrad. 

The 65-year-old had recently retired as Tech Mahindra’s managing director and chief executive officer and had stepped down as the non-executive and non-independent director of the IT major on December 20, 2023. 
 

As an independent director, Gurnani will prioritise the global expansion of the company, upGrad said. His focus will be to work with the leadership teams to turn upGrad into a highly export-oriented product, tapping into opportunities in B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) markets. 

“It's interesting to observe how upGrad is reversing the pyramid, empowering millions, and addressing the rising demand for upskilling, particularly in times of AI,” said Gurnani. “It is creating a talent pipeline for the world, and I am committed to guiding them on building more smart content and individualised learning trajectories for learners from diverse backgrounds and geographies.”

Ronnie Screwvala, co-founder and chairperson, upGrad said bringing independent directors like Gurnani on board is not only about corporate governance, but they also provide maximum value, and challenge the founders in many ways. 

Screwvala said the firm is set to embark on a journey of driving sustainability. There’s a very strong demand coming out of global economies for constant learning. He said that learning, skilling, and workforce development continue to enjoy a reputation of being one of the very important & transformative sectors of the 21st and 22nd centuries.

 “Aware of our sound growth, we are actively deploying a well-structured governance model - guided by leaders who are aligned to support upGrad’s development over short-term gains,” said Screwvala. “I’m confident that CP’s (Gurnani) profound leadership and ability to preempt market trends would further enhance our framework and underpin the integrity and efficiency of our business model. CP comes with a very strong business intellect and has a proven record of scaling businesses across both B2B and B2C segments.”

Gurnani becomes the second non-executive director at upGrad after the skilling firm announced the appointment of Chegg’s Dan Rosensweig in March last year. Under his 19 years of leadership as Tech Mahindra’s CEO and MD, the company scaled up significantly, both in terms of operations and innovations and topline, retaining its position among the Top 5 Indian IT marquee players. He retired from his post last month and served on the Board of Mahindra & Mahindra for over three decades. Gurnani is a chemical engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. In a career spanning over 40 years, Gurnani has held several leading positions with Hewlett Packard Ltd., Perot Systems (India) Ltd., and HCL Corporation Ltd.

upGrad recorded a revenue of Rs 1,194 crore in Financial Year 2022-23 (FY23), a 96 per cent jump to Rs 608 crore in FY22. The company moved to the widely accepted IndAS accounting standard in FY23 in line with its listing plans. On an annual recurring revenue (ARR) basis, the company said the revenue would have been higher but some mergers and acquisitions (M&As) did not consolidate in FY23. Due to the realignment of revenues, upGrad carried forward a further deferred collected revenue of Rs 443 crore to FY24. Adjusted Ebitda loss (operating cash loss) was Rs 558 crore, compared to Rs 572 crore in FY22.

The non-cash expenses in FY23 included an accelerated goodwill write-down of Rs 410 crore and depreciation and amortisation costs of Rs 140 crore. The finance cost was Rs 34 crore, totalling other non-cash costs of Rs 584 crore. The firm said Ebitda, non-cash expenses, and finance costs took the loss to Rs 1,142 crore, up from Rs 648 crore in FY22.

The firm recently said that it is tracking H2 of FY24 and onward to be operationally profitable on an ongoing basis. It will continue to look for organic, linear, and non-linear opportunities for growth both in Asia and around the world.