Swiggy ropes in former Flipkart executive Amitesh Jha as Instamart CEO

Reshuffle of the top deck comes ahead of food delivery major's IPO

Food delivery major Swiggy on Thursday announced the appointment of Amitesh Jha as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its quick commerce arm Swiggy Instamart, effective September 4. Jha was earlier senior vice president and head of grocery at e-commerce giant Flipkart and will be replacing Instamart’s current CEO Phani Kishan.

His appointment comes shortly after Swiggy appointed Sairam Krishnamurthy as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Instamart.

This reshuffle of the top deck comes ahead of Swiggy’s initial public offering (IPO), expected in the coming few weeks.

In April, Swiggy had filed its IPO papers for Rs 10,400 crore (approximately $1.25 billion). The food delivery giant is reportedly targeting a valuation of around $15 billion for its stock market debut.

According to an internal email sent by Swiggy co-founder and CEO Shriharsha Majety, Kishan will assume a broader organisation-wide role overseeing Swiggy’s central growth unit, and will work closely with and report to Majety directly.

“I am delighted to welcome Amitesh Jha as the new CEO of Swiggy Instamart. Amitesh joins us from Flipkart, where he has built an impressive track record over the past 14 years. His extensive experience includes leading core categories such as smartphones, general merchandise, fashion, and large appliances, as well as managing their logistics arm,” said Majety.

Jha joined Flipkart during its early foray into electronics and played a key role in driving its significant growth in this category. He was also the head of Flipkart’s supply chain, before leading the company’s growth business. He is a Chemical Engineering graduate from IIT Delhi and holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

This comes at a time when competition in the quick commerce space is intensifying. Players like Zepto, Blinkit and BB Now are rapidly expanding their operations, be it in terms of category expansion, scaling their dark store networks, or getting into newer cities. Moreover, e-commerce incumbents like Flipkart and Amazon have also jumped into the mix.