Sajith Sivanandan to Take Over as Tata Digital CEO from Sept 1

Tata Sons’ e-commerce arm, Tata Digital, has reportedly appointed former Jio president Sajith Sivanandan as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective September 1, according to reports citing an internal mail to employees.

Sivanandan briefly served as president of Jio Mobile Digital Services for three months starting January 2025. Before that, he led Disney+ Hotstar for over two years until its merger with Reliance’s media arm.

Currently, Tata Digital is managed by a council of six senior executives who report directly to Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran. The council includes Hardeep Guru (chief financial officer), Gaurav Hazrati (chief business officer – financial services), Satyam Mehra (chief strategy officer), Seshadri Narasimhan (chief business officer), Abhimanyu Lal (chief marketing officer), and Vinay Vaidya (chief technology officer). This structure was put in place after Naveen Tahilyani stepped down as CEO in May this year.

Challenges Ahead for Sivanandan

As CEO, Sivanandan will be tasked with helping Tata Digital compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, while scaling its quick-commerce arm BB Now to rival Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto, as per the reports.

Founded in 2020, Tata Digital operates an omni-channel retail business through its super app Tata Neu and brands such as Croma (electronics), BigBasket (grocery), Tata 1mg (pharmacy and diagnostics), and Tata Cliq (fashion). In FY25, the company posted operating revenue of ₹32,188 crore, down 13.8% year-on-year, though its net loss narrowed by 31% to ₹828 crore.

Among its businesses, online pharmacy Tata 1mg led growth with a 20% rise in revenue to ₹2,392 crore, driven by e-pharmacy demand and Tata Neu integration. Tata Cliq’s turnover increased 19.2% to ₹294.4 crore, with reduced losses, although it continues to face tough competition in premium fashion. Croma posted a 7% revenue rise to ₹19,063.8 crore but saw losses widen. BigBasket, however, struggled with quick-commerce rivalry: its B2C revenue fell 3% to ₹7,673 crore with rising losses, while its B2B arm’s revenue declined 7% though losses narrowed by 20%.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Sivanandan has nearly 30 years of experience across India and APAC in technology, media, telecom, payments, and consulting, including 15 years at Google where he helped scale multiple businesses, founded its Malaysia operations, and built Google Pay and the Next Billion Users initiatives in the region.