Tata Digital is set to name Sajith Sivanandan as its new CEO in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

The ecommerce and digital services arm of Tata Sons has seen leadership changes following the exit of former CEO Naveen Tahilyani earlier this year.

Sivanandan is currently president of Jio Mobile Digital Services and previously led payments and user growth projects at Google in India and Asia Pacific.

His appointment comes as Tata Digital competes with Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, and Reliance in ecommerce, quick commerce, and digital services.

The company has been undergoing a broader leadership and strategy restructuring, with Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran taking a direct role in operations earlier this month.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Digital payments leadership experience aligns with India’s fintech boom

Sivanandan’s appointment leverages his direct experience building Google Pay during India’s digital payments explosion.

During his tenure leading Google’s payments initiatives, Google Pay grew from 22 million monthly active users in September 2018 to 67 million by September 2019, recording 30 million transactions within just 40 days of its launch1.

This growth coincided with India’s broader shift toward digital payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which became the preferred payment method as digital payments were projected to double to $135.2 billion by 20231.

His experience scaling consumer internet businesses in India’s diverse market, characterized by varying languages and connectivity challenges, directly applies to Tata Digital’s mission across ecommerce and digital services1.

2️⃣ Massive market opportunity justifies high-stakes leadership changes

The urgency behind Tata Digital’s leadership restructuring becomes clearer when viewed against India’s explosive e-commerce growth projections.

Multiple industry analyses consistently project India’s e-commerce market will reach between $200-325 billion by 2025-2030, representing compound annual growth rates of 15-27%2345.

The quick-commerce segment alone is expected to surpass $6 billion in gross merchandise value by FY2025, while social commerce is projected to grow at 31% annually to reach $37 billion by FY202556.