Zepto VP Jitendra Bagga quits in second high-level departure

Bagga and CHRO Martin Dinesh Gomez now join a growing list of senior executives who have left Zepto since the start of the year.

Jitendra Bagga has quit as the vice-president of central operations at Zepto after spending nine months with the quick commerce unicorn, sources told Moneycontrol. Bagga was heading mother hubs (MH) and line haul (LH) projects, part of the warehousing division, for the company.

Warehousing, MH and LH are key functions for Zepto, especially because the company is on a massive expansion drive. Around the beginning of the year, the firm had around 300 dark stores but the count has now increased to over 750 as Zepto looks to have an edge over its peers and outgrow rivals such as Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Flipkart Minutes, and Tata BigBasket.

Prior to joining Zepto in April, Bagga had spent three years at Raymond Limited and over 24 years at Reliance Retail. In his career, spanning over 27 years, he has always dabbled in the field of supply chain and other related areas that involve skills crucial for Zepto and its future plans.

One of the key reasons why Bagga left is because he is based in Mumbai and it was a challenge to relocate to Bengaluru, one of the sources cited above told Moneycontrol.

It is not immediately clear who would replace Bagga in Zepto but it is likely to be an internal candidate as the company is going slow on external hiring at the moment, a second person in the know said.

Zepto did not respond to Moneycontrol’s request for comments.

Bagga is the second top-level exit at Zepto in recent months. On December 10, Moneycontrol reported that Zepto’s chief human resource officer (CHRO) Martin Dinesh Gomez had quit after an 11-month stint at the company. 

Both Gomez and Bagga exited Zepto at a time when the company  is preparing to move its headquarters, and relocate employees, from Mumbai to Bengaluru, as was first reported by Moneycontrol in August.

Bagga and Gomez joined a growing list of senior executives who have left Zepto since the start of the year. Viral Jhaveri, former chief business officer/chief growth officer, Ashish Shah, senior vice-president of finance, Manik Oberoi, vice-president of growth and retention - all have quit the company in 2024, Moneycontrol had reported earlier. 

These developments come ahead of Zepto’s planned public market debut in 2025. The company has picked bankers such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Axis Capital for its IPO. Moneycontrol was the first to report this. The company has also been increasing its domestic shareholding, and reducing the stake of foreign investors as it gears up for the $500-million-plus IPO.