Former Jabong COO quits Myntra in another top-level exit

Muralikrishnan B, a senior vice-president (SVP) at Myntra, has quit the fashion e-tailer, Moneycontrol reported, citing sources it didn’t name. 

The exit of Muralikrishnan, who was chief operating officer at subsidiary Jabong, comes almost four months after Myntra’s product and revenue heads resigned.

The senior-level departures come at a time when Myntra is sharpening its focus on profitability and increasing exposure to offline retail.

Till December last year, Muralikrishnan was the operations chief of Jabong, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was with Jabong for one year 10 months before being made Myntra’s SVP in January this year. Myntra has been making organisational changes at Jabong, whose revenue slowed 15% to Rs 757 crore for 2016-17, going by figures in a Times of India report.

Before Jabong, Muralikrishnan was the operations chief of real estate portal India Property. He was with the site for one year five months. Previously, he had co-founded a digital healthcare startup named Almond Wellness Tech Pvt. Ltd.

Muralikrishnan, who is a postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, couldn’t be immediately reached by TechCircle. An email to a Myntra spokesperson did not get a response till the time of publishing this story. 

Muralikrishnan confirmed his exit to Moneycontrol. His departure comes after Myntra’s chief product officer Ambarish Kenghe and chief revenue officer Naresh Krishnaswamy quit in February this year.

Last month, US-based Walmart Inc. had agreed to buy a majority stake in Myntra’s parent Flipkart.

Myntra, which is perceived as the market leader in fashion and lifestyle e-commerce, had posted an 87% rise in revenue for 2016-17, but its net worth eroded as debt levels soared.

For 2016-17, revenue stood at Rs 2,000 crore ($314 million). About 94% of its revenue came from the trading business, while the rest was from data processing and other activities.

Myntra, which is also betting big on its private labels strategy, had in August 2017 said that the vertical had turned profitable at the underlying level.

Myntra’s 13 private labels currently account for 23-25% of its total revenue.

The company also has exclusive distribution and management rights for omni-channel retail play of global brands, including Mango and Esprit.