Online fashion retailer Myntra has snaggedNestleBSE 1.74 % India's country business manager Vikas Ahuja as its latest senior recruit. Ahuja, who will be chief marketing officer of Myntra, joins a growing list of senior managers who have quit large organisations to work in the ecommerce sector.
In April, Prashant Malik, a senior executive atFacebook, joined social shopping platform Limeroad as its chief technology officer. Earlier, Google India's country marketing head Nikhil Rungta switched jobs to join online retailer Yebhi as a chief business officer. Online ticketing company redBus also attracted a senior executive in March when Lakshmikant Gupta, LG ElectronicsIndia's chief marketing officer, joined the company which was acquired by South African internet company Naspers.
"The industry has attracted significant investments. So, many of these companies now have the financial muscle to attract talent," said Anshuman Das, managing partner at Longhouse Consulting, which works closely with startups on their recruitment process. The Indian ecommerce industry has attracted $358 million (over Rs 2,100 crore) in risk capital across 23 deals so far this year. This includes the $200 (Rs 1,200 crore) investment raised byFlipkart this week. Earlier Myntra raised $25 million (about Rs 150 crore) from existing investors, Accel Parters, Tiger Global, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital. The company has raised a total of around $65 million (about Rs 390 crore) so far.
Such financial muscle allows companies to pay competitive salaries of over Rs 1 crore to senior hires along with attractive employee stock options. Ahuja, an alumnus of IIM-Calcutta, has almost two decades of sales and marketing experience. At Nestle, he led wellknown brands like Kit-Kat, Nescafe and Maggi.
