In a major rejig, Softbank-backed Oyo has elevated Ankit Gupta to be the chief executive officer of India, transitioning existing chief executive Rohit Kapoor to the position of company's global marketing head.
Gupta had already been heading the main business of Oyo in India - Hotels and Homes and will now also look at Workspaces following this elevation.
Kapoor, on the other hand, was the CEO of Oyo India & Southeast Asia.
The Southeast Asia charge will now be given to Ankit Tandon, who has been the company's global chief business officer. He will specifically focus on Indonesia and the Middle East region as its CEO.
As the global CMO, Rohit will focus on lifting the brand persona of Oyo and increase its affinity to strategically important customer cohorts such as family and leisure travellers and corporate customers, while strengthening the value proposition for Oyo’s core audience base of small and medium businesses guests and millennials.
The timing is crucial as the company has been delaying its much awaited $1.2-billion initial public offer (IPO).
Shares of restaurant aggregator Zomato plunged to its lowest level since its blockbuster listing last year, with digital payments company Paytm, online beauty and wellness firm Nykaa and PB Fintech, an online insurance and lending platform, also coming under pressure.
Oyo filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in September last year and has been in the process of responding to questions and clarifications sought by regulators.
However it has not been an easy sailing for the company. Last year, Moneycontrol reported that Zo Rooms, besides hotels association Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), had filed complaints against Oyo with SEBI, asking the markets regulator not to approve the company’s IPO.
Zo Rooms, which is engaged in a court battle with Oyo over a failed merger, opposed the IPO on the grounds that it violated International Centre for Dispute Resolution regulations and alleging that the company had misrepresented facts about their litigation issue in the DRHP.
FHRAI also came out strongly against Oyo, alleging that the company have made a “misrepresentation” in its DRHP by claiming to not have any outstanding criminal proceedings against it.
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