Naveen Tahilyani Appointed Tata Digital’s New CEO & MD, Takes Over From Pratik Pal

Tata Digital, the digital arm of the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, has appointed Naveen Tahilyani as its new chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD).

Tahilyani will take charge on February 19. Prior to this, he served as the CEO and MD of Tata AIA Life Insurance, the company said in a statement.

Tata Digital houses the Tata Group’s superapp Tata Neu. Tahilyani will take charge from Pratik Pal who spearheaded the launch of Tata Neu. 

“I am delighted to welcome Naveen to Tata Digital. Naveen brings in (a) strong understanding of (the) consumer domain and a very successful track record of leadership. I wish Naveen success in his new role,” said Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

An alumni of IIT Madras and IIM-Ahmedabad, Tahilyani has more than two decades of experience under his belt and has earlier worked with Axis Bank, McKinsey, among others. 

Meanwhile, the company said that Pal will continue to remain at Tata Digital to ensure ‘continuity and contribute with his wealth of experience to the organisation’. There was no clarity on what exactly will Pal’s new role be within the company.

“Pratik has been successfully leading the company since its inception and led Tata Group’s foray into digital commerce. I would like to thank Pratik for his significant contribution to Tata Digital,” Chandrasekaran said in the statement.

The development comes at a time when Tata Digital has been witnessing a series of exits at the top-level. Recently, it was reported that Tata Digital’s chief software architect Pavan Podila and Samir Aksekar, chief information security officer, were on their way out. 

In October 2023, Rajiv Subramanian, who was then leading Tata Neu’s travel division, also stepped down from his position. Prior to that, other senior executives, including Prateek Mehta and Sharath Bulusu, also parted ways with the company. 

Despite this, the conglomerate is reportedly planning a fresh billion-dollar fund infusion in Tata Digital, even after the latter clocked a 5.6X YoY jump in its consolidated net loss to INR 3,052 Cr in FY22.