Zomato’s Head Of New Initiatives Rahul Ganjoo Resigns

Exits continue at the food delivery major Zomato as the head of new initiatives Rahul Ganjoo has handed in his papers, the listed foodtech’s regulatory filings showed.

“Mr Rahul Ganjoo was not designated as key managerial personnel under the Companies Act, 2013 and the Listing Regulations. Hence, this disclosure will not qualify as ‘material information’ and the Company is making this disclosure voluntarily,” Zomato said in the filing.

A BITS Pilani alumnus, Ganjoo joined Zomato in 2017 as the head of product development. In 2020, he led Zomato’s food delivery business till August 2022, when he took charge of new initiatives at Zomato.

This is the second high-profile exit from Zomato within a week. Last Monday (November 7), Zomato’s vice president of global growth, Siddharth Jhawar left his post. In a LinkedIn post, Jhawar said, “A few days back, I bid goodbye to Zomato. It’s time for a new adventure.”

Ganjoo’s exit adds another event to a stacked few days for the listed foodtech startup.

Over the past seven days, Zomato has launched its dining-out feature Zomato Pay in several cities, seen the exit of Jhawar, announced Q2 FY23 results and closed its app in the UAE. The company is also working on a new loyalty program on its app.

Per its Q2 FY23 financials, Zomato recorded a loss of INR 250.8 Cr during Q3 FY22, down 42% from the INR 434.9 Cr it incurred in the corresponding quarter last year but up 35% sequentially from the INR 186 Cr in Q1 FY23. The foodtech major cited the acquisition of Blinkit in August this year as a key factor for the rise in its losses.

Zomato’s total expenses rose about 31% to INR 2,091.3 Cr in Q2 from INR 1,601.5 Cr reported in the same quarter last year, while its operating revenue also increased 62% YoY to INR 1,661.3 Cr during Q2 FY23 from INR 1,024.2 Cr in Q2 FY22.

“While our food delivery business has been growing and steadily moving towards profitability, I believe there is room for the business to grow much faster than what it is currently trending at,” said Deepinder Goyal, MD and CEO of Zomato.

At the end of the day’s trading on Monday (November 14), Zomato’s share price closed at INR 69.35 apiece, down 4.74% from the previous close. 

Over the past week, the company’s share price has fluctuated, but it improved for the most part. In the last five days, the listed startup’s shares went up by 8% overall.