Paytm Mall to hire 300 people\, appoints Abhishek Rajan as COO

Paytm Mall to hire 300 people, appoints Abhishek Rajan as COO

As Paytm Mall COO, along with this daily responsibilities, Abhishek Rajan will specifically on focus expanding the hyperlocal merchant base, ensuring that more kirana stores join Paytm

Paytm Mall has also shited operations from Noida to Bengaluru

Paytm Mall, the online shopping arm of Paytm, has said that it will hire 300 people in product and technology roles in a bid to expand across business categories. The decision came as the company shifted operations from Noida in Uttar Pradesh to Bengaluru. Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led e-commerce platform said this move will help it tap into the rich talent pool available in the city's consumer internet and start-up ecosystem. The existing workforce of the company has been given the option to either shift to Bengaluru or work from their current location in various roles.

Paytm Mall has also appointed Abhishek Rajan as the new Chief Operating Officer of the company. Meanwhile, Srinivas Mothey has been elevated to Senior Vice President Merchants Solutions at Paytm. He would be working on innovative retail solutions for merchants in his new role.

Rajan, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, has been working with Paytm's travel business for the past four years. He will continue to lead Paytm's travel vertical until a new business head is appointed.

In his new role as the Paytm Mall COO, Rajan will oversee the operations across categories, products, technology, supply chain, marketing and finance with specific focus on strengthening the customer experience and expanding the hyperlocal merchant base, enabling more kirana stores to join Paytm. His appointment comes at a time when Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is foraying in the offline to online (O2O) segment, trying to bring as many neighbourhood brick and mortar shops as possible under the ambit of its recently launched JioMart. This is expected to spur competition among e-commerce platforms trying to tap into the local unorganised retail segment.

"In the post-COVID world, we want to bring commerce to even more customers and serve the SMEs across the country. We are well-capitalised, have a great team, and a massive network of customers to make our O2O model penetrate further in India. I am confident Abhishek will take Paytm Mall to new heights," said Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Rajan's appointment.

With a sharp focus on profitability, Paytm Mall said it has significantly reduced its quarterly cash burn from $17 million to $2 million during the last financial year. The e-commerce platform currently offers products across categories including mobiles, computers, apparel, footwear, consumer electronics, home appliances, health and fitness, and general merchandise. It has partnered with BigBasket for the supply of groceries on its platform.

"We would like to think of Paytm's e-commerce business as a Series A start-up with $200 million cash in the bank, where key technology and operations components required for running a commerce business have already been built. In the last 3 quarters, the team has done an incredible job of bringing down the cash burn to $2 million per quarter. There cannot be a better starting line for us, as we look ahead to scale the business in a profitable manner," Rajan said after his appointment.