Snapdeal's HR head Saurabh Nigam quits, ahead of deal with Flipkart

A private security gurad stands at a gate of Snapdeal headquarters in Gurugram on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, April 3, 2017. Picture taken April 3. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi - RTX33YCH

Even as Snapdeal finalises the contours of a stake sale to Flipkart, the Gurgaon-based ecommerce company's human resources chief Saurabh Nigam has quit and will move out shortly.

"An intense and enriching three years with Snapdeal comes to a nostalgic close. It has been a true honor to work with an outstanding team and exceptional leaders. It is now time to paint a new canvas," Nigam told Moneycontrol without specifying his future plans.

Commenting on Nigam's exit, a Snapdeal spokesperson said: "After spearheading Snapdeal’s human capital function for more than three years, Saurabh Nigam has decided to move on to pursue further career interests in a field close to his heart. Saurabh has been an integral and invaluable part of Snapdeal's journey."

Pravin Kutty, Associate Vice President of Human Resources and Administration will head the human capital function post Nigam's exit, the spokesperson added.

Nigam had joined Snapdeal in 2014. Besides senior level exits, Nigam's tenure also saw massive layoffs by Snapdeal impacting over 2000 employees.

In his three year long stint, Nigam scaled Snapdeal massively from less than 1,000 people to almost 7,000 during the 2014-15 period.

Nigam's departure comes soon after Snapdeal's general counsel, Ashish Chandra quit the company as the deal with Flipkart was being driven by the company's largest stakeholder SoftBank. Nigam joins the list of senior executives who have quit the company in the last few months such as Tony Navin, Abhishek Kumar and Sandeep Komaravelly, among others.

According to one of the persons privy to the developments at Snapdeal, Nigam's last date in the company would be May 31.

According to documents available with the registrar of companies, Snapdeal is also learnt to have raised Rs 113 crore from an existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and the founders.

The company has raised Rs 8.4 crore each from founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. About Rs 94 crore is being invested by Nexus Venture Partners, in the emergency funding.

The money was raised in March, this year.

Also read: The story behind Snapdeal's increasing cart of woes.

priyanka.sahay@nw18.com