Pratik Pal to step down as Tata Digital CEO; Naveen Tahilyani to take over

Tata Digital is the company that runs Tata Neu superapp.

Pratik Pal, the CEO of Tata Digital, will be leaving the company after a tenure of more than four-and-a-half years. Naveen Tahilyani, who is currently the CEO and Managing Director of Tata AIA Life Insurance Company, will be the new chief executive and will replace Pal on February 19.

Tata Digital is the company that runs Tata Neu superapp.

Pal, who has spearheaded Tata Digital since its inception, stepping aside as CEO is a pivotal milestone for the Tata group firm.

“Pratik has been successfully leading the company since its inception and led Tata Group’s foray into digital commerce. I would like to thank Pratik for his significant contribution to Tata Digital,” N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, said in a press release.

“I am delighted to welcome Naveen to Tata Digital. Naveen brings in (a) strong understanding of (the) consumer domain and a very successful track record of leadership. I wish Naveen success in his new role.”

Earlier in the day, the salt to software conglomerate had announced that Tata AIA's Venkatachalam H was promoted internally and made the CEO of the insurance company, replacing Tahilyani who was later made the CEO of Tata Digital.

Tahilyani also has experience in the financial services sector which is a crucial part of Tata Neu. He has a proven track record of driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and achieving operational excellence, the company said.

Pal's exit comes at a time when Tata Digital has been plagued with several top-level exits over the past months. Pavan Podila, chief software architect, and Samir Aksekar, chief information security officer, are set to leave in the coming weeks, Moneycontrol reported on February 5. 

Rajiv Subramanian (head of travel), Gunjan Ghai (chief business officer), Prateek Mehta (head of investments and neobanking), Sharath Bulusu (chief product officer), and Shivcharan Pulugurtha (chief strategy and business officer) have all quit Tata Digital in the past 12-18 months.

The exits come even as Tata Digital has been broadening its ambitions beyond grocery and fashion to food ordering. Tata Neu is now gearing up to offer food delivery services by piggybacking on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Moneycontrol reported earlier on February 6.

The idea behind the entry into food ordering is to develop a ‘high-frequency use case' to bring customers to the app regularly.