Tata Neu CTO Sauvik Banerjjee Quits, External Hire Likely To Fill The Position: Report

Barely months after its launch, Tata Neu’s chief technology officer (CTO) Sauvik Banerjjee has reportedly exited the company.

Banerjjee, who is currently in the UK, told Business Standard that he quit the company a few weeks ago, adding that he would return back to India next month.

“I am a UK national and was planning to move back to a global role. I had decided a few months back and post-launch decided to move on,” he said.

A company spokesperson said that Banerjjee exited Tata Neu 10 days ago and that the team was “well placed to address any issues”. 

Sources privy to the development said that the conglomerate was looking at external hires to fill the position.

Banerjjee left consultancy firm SAP to join the Tata Group in 2016. In his first role in the company, he served as the CTO of Tata Cliq before transitioning to CTO role in Tata Digital in 2019. Banerjjee was the founding CTO of Tata Digital and led the launch of the much-touted super app.

While the initiative was launched with much fanfare in April, the super app didn’t have the best of the start. As per a report, the app failed to meet its internal target of $200 Mn gross sales in the first month of its operation, recording gross sales of $120 Mn-$150 Mn. 

However, the company seems to be unperturbed by this. Tata Digital has set an ambitious target of achieving $2 Bn-$2.5 Bn in sales in the first year of Tata Neu’s operations. 

Tata Neu logged more than 7 Mn downloads in the first seven weeks of its launch.

Meanwhile, senior officials also reportedly said that Tata Neu was open to having non-Tata brands on the super app in domains where the Tata Group has no significant presence. The app is also facing teething issues ranging from user interface (UI) to integration of financial services on the platform.

From UPI payments to flight booking and from grocery shopping to buying medicines, Tata Neu offers a host of services under one umbrella. It houses brands such as 1mg, BigBasket, Croma, Tata Cliq, Westside, among others.