Swiggy ropes in HUL’s Ashwath Swaminathan as chief growth & marketing officer

Swaminathan will engage with new and returning customers, drive innovation, and explore partnerships to strengthen Swiggy’s market position.

IPO-bound Swiggy appointed Ashwath Swaminathan as its Chief Growth & Marketing Officer (CGMO). Swaminathan spent close to 18 years at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), where he held several leadership positions, prior to his role at the food tech startup.

The CGMO role is a new one for Swiggy and has been created after previous department heads quit the Bengaluru-based company. In May last year, Moneycontrol reported that Ashish Lingamneni, vice president (VP), head of brand and product marketing quit Swiggy. Similarly, Anuj Rathi, senior vice president (SVP), Revenue and Growth, left the startup to join fintech startup Jupiter.

Swaminathan will now oversee the two operations jointly in his new role. He will engage with new and returning customers, drive innovation, and explore partnerships to strengthen Swiggy’s market position.

"Ashwath brings with him the right experience and a strong track record of strengthening consumer brands and growth marketing through data-driven insights and strategic collaborations. He joins Swiggy at a time of unprecedented opportunity, and we’re excited by the critical role he will play…” said Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and Group CEO of Swiggy.

Swaminathan is the latest addition to Swiggy’s top deck ahead of a public listing later this year. The company recently roped in former Amazon executives like Anirban Roy and Dipak Krishnamani to lead teams. While Roy is VP of Growth, Revenue & Category, Swiggy instamart, Krishnamani is VP of Swiggy Mall. They were appointed after Sidharth Satpathy and Karthik Gurumurthy left their roles at Swiggy, as Moneycontrol had reported.

“Swiggy is a well-loved and fast-growing brand. I look forward to helping elevate the Swiggy brand for the next chapter of innovation and growth and make it an iconic brand by offering unparalleled convenience to urban Indians," Swaminathan, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Swiggy, said.

In the previous financial year, Swiggy saw its revenue rise 45 percent from Rs 5,705 crore in FY22 to Rs 8,625 crore in FY23 while its net loss widened from Rs 3,629 crore to Rs 4,179 crore during the same period.

For comparison, arch-rival Zomato's revenue had risen 66 percent to Rs 7,761 crore in FY23, while net loss narrowed to Rs 971 crore.