Ananth Narayanan steps down as Myntra and Jabong CEO

Ananth Narayanan has decided to step down as chief executive of Myntra and Jabong to pursue external opportunities, the company said in a statement on Monday, putting an end to months of speculation regarding Narayanan's plans. In November, all of Jabong’s functions were integrated with Myntra and some employees of both Myntra and Jabong were handed pink slips.

With Narayanan's resignation, the Flipkart-owned fashion retailer has now abolished the position of CEO and named Amar Nagaram as head, Myntra and Jabong. Nagaram will report to Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group.

“Myntra and Jabong are an invaluable part of the Flipkart group serving our valuable customers. The company will continue to execute the growth strategy and leverage synergies with Flipkart as appropriate. Amar Nagaram, who recently moved to Myntra from Flipkart will lead the business reporting to Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart group. In his seven plus years journey at Flipkart, Amar has played a pivotal role in making shopping accessible, delightful and affordable on every connected device. Most notably, he led the efforts on revisiting the boundaries of mobile web, making the experience on it as good as native," Flipkart board of directors said in an internal email to employees, which has been reviewed by Fortune India.

Narayanan joined Myntra in 2015 replacing its founder Mukesh Bansal, who had taken up the role of chairman at the firm at that time. Under Narayanan's leadership, Myntra grew into the country’s leading online fashion e-tailer. It is expected to end fiscal 2019 with a revenue run rate of nearly $2 billion.

“Ananth has played an important role in making Myntra and Jabong into a formidable player in the fashion e-commerce market and steering the company towards sustainable growth. Over the last three-and-a-half years, he and the management team have built a strong foundation for the company which has become known for its innovative approach to business and building a unique culture of fashion and technology that has helped create a differentiated positioning for the business.” Myntra said in response to a query sent on Narayanan’s resignation.

Since its acquisition by Walmart in May, Flipkart seems to struggling to retain its talent at Myntra. Besides Narayanan, the fashion e-tailer’s strategy head Ananya Tripathi, chief financial officer Dipanjan Basu and Jabong head Gunjan Soni have stepped down from the firm.