Founder exits loom over BigBasket, 1mg as Tata Digital reset continues

Synopsis

Bigbasket’s Hari Menon and Vipul Parekh are in the final stages of moving out amid the ongoing CEO search. Meanwhile, Prashant Tandon and Gaurav Agarwal of online pharmacy 1mg are assessing next steps due to a lack of clarity around IPO and exit path for other shareholders.

Founders of grocery etailer BigBasket are in the process of stepping back from their operating roles as Tata Digital looks to appoint a professional CEO, according to multiple people in the know.

While Hari Menon and Vipul Parekh at BigBasket are in the final stages of moving out, Tata 1mg founders Prashant Tandon and Gaurav Agarwal are also evaluating their next steps at the online pharmacy and healthcare platform and may leave after completing five years at the group, these people said on condition of anonymity.

Menon and Parekh are understood to have conveyed their plan to step down to Tatas, and may sell their stake in the company, these people said. These discussions are still ongoing and a new CEO for BigBasket has not been officially picked, they said.

ET had reported in September last year that the Tata Group was evaluating a leadership transition at BigBasket, with Menon working with the board on succession planning as the company sharpened its quick commerce strategy amid intensifying competition. “They have already brought on board a bunch of CXOs to oversee finance and marketing as part of this transition. There has been an executive search firm working on finding a CEO for BigBasket since last year,” said one of the persons.

“Vipul and I continue to be fully in the driver’s seat at BigBasket, and the business is performing well. Tata remains fully committed to the company. As mentioned earlier, we are not selling any of our stake, and the shareholding...” Menon said while responding to ET’s query.

Spokespersons for Tata Digital and 1mg did not respond to ET’s queries till press time Thursday.

The development comes in the backdrop of Tata Digital slashing jobs at Tata Neu, its super app, under new CEO Sajith Sivanandan, as reported by ET in November

Founded in 2011, BigBasket, long anchored in its scheduled, slotted delivery model, was initially reluctant to embrace quick commerce, wary of its cash-intensive model. The aggressive scale-up of Swiggy’s lnstamart, Eternal’s Blinkit and Zepto accelerated adoption, with ultra-fast delivery gaining mainstream traction. The move made BigBasket a late entrant in quick commerce, which also needed massive capital to play catchup with competition. BigBasket reported FY25 revenue of around Rs 9,900 crore, while losses widened to about Rs 2,000 crore as the company scaled its rapid delivery offering and expanded into adjacent categories.

Tata 1mg

“The 1mg founders are in talks and evaluating an IPO and a rights issue for the company,” said a person familiar with the matter. “But if they do not get clarity on the future course of action, they may explore leaving.”

Tandon and Agarwal together hold around 6% in 1mg.

With no clear timeline for a potential IPO or liquidity event for current shareholders at BigBasket and 1mg, fundraising discussions for both companies have also been shelved as Tata Digital evaluates the next phase, said another person aware of the discussions.

1mg’s CEO Tandon said in a Linkedin post on Thursday that the company had hit a revenue run rate crossing Rs 3,000 crore across its core businesses spanning epharmacy, diagnostics and specialty pharma services. He added that its core operations, excluding physical retail investments, turned ebitda positive in December and sustained profitability through the March quarter. As for its diagnostics business, it crossed a revenue run rate of Rs 600 crore, growing over 40% year-on-year.

Tata 1mg, founded in 2015, operates an integrated digital health platform spanning e-pharmacy, diagnostics and teleconsultation. It reported FY25 revenue of about Rs 2,392 crore, while losses narrowed to roughly Rs 276 crore..

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