Myntra makes CMO Gunjan Soni head of Jabong

Her elevation comes after Myntra's co-founder Ashutosh Lawania has quit to start his new venture

Flipkart-owned online fashion portal Myntra has appointed Gunjan Soni as head of its recently acquired unit Jabong, as the company looks to extend its lead in the online fashion space - one of the few large categories where the Indian firm outperforms rival Amazon.

Soni's elevation to the position comes at a time when Ashutosh Lawania, who along with Mukesh Bansal co-founded Myntra in 2007, has quit to start his new venture. The void Lawania creates will be filled by chief people officer Manpreet Ratia, who will take on the additional charge of supply chain.

The movements have resulted in a comprehensive top level management rejig at Myntra, with CEO Ananth Narayanan continuing to remain the top boss for both of Flipkart's fashion units. Myntra's rejig follows that of parent Flipkart's which saw the elevation of former Tiger Global executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy to the position of CEO in January.

Naresh Krishnaswamy, who joined Myntra as a business analyst in 2012 has been given a seat in the top management, while continuing to head sales and new initiatives. He has been responsible for key sale events, driving engagement through price reveals and gamification of the Myntra platform.

Apart from being given the responsibility of handling Myntra's supply chain, Ratia, an ex Amazon India executive, will also look at consumer experience.

"Gunjan, Manpreet and Naresh are successful leaders with diverse experiences and have played a vital role in growing Myntra from strength to strength" said Ananth Narayanan, CEO of Myntra. "With these changes I am confident that we are well on our way to become the first profitable e-commerce company in India."

In December, Myntra pushed its timeframe to turn profitable by a quarter from December 2017 to March 2018. The firm said it plans to double sales to $2 billion by then. Amazon, which has been aggressively catching Flipkart continues to lag significantly to the Indian company in the fashion space thanks to Myntra and now Jabong.