'Right time to move on, Myntra's future is bright', says outgoing CEO Ananth Narayanan

Flipkart-owned fashion retailer Myntra today announced the exit of its CEO Ananth Narayana after speculations ranging for nearly two months.

"It has been three and a half years. It has been a great stint," Ananth Narayanan, the CEO of Myntra-Jabong, told Business Today in an interview after he announced his exit from Flipkart Group.

"The timing was right, and we have a great team and a great market positioning, so I felt like the right time to move on, and I want to think through what my next entrepreneurial journey will be," Narayanan told Business Today.

Flipkart has now named Amar Nagaram as the new head of Myntra and Jabong, who will be reporting to the group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy.

Also Read: Flipkart-owned Myntra and Jabong CEO Ananth Narayanan steps down, Amar Nagaram takes over

Amar, who recently moved to Myntra, is a Flipkart veteran, who has donned the roles of vice president, consumer shopping experience and director of mobile and web engineering, working on the accessibility and experience of Flipkart app. In spite of running India's biggest fashion portal, a role elevation evaded Ananth.

Company insiders attribute the reason behind Ananth's exit to the recent rejig by Walmart after Binny Bansal's abrupt exit.

But he did not say anything about it.

While PhonePe's Sameer Nigam got to report to the board directly, Ananth had to continue reporting to the group CEO Kalyan, something that was a difficult 'work equation' as sources inside the company say.

Narayanan said his journey in Myntra was "very good" and he enjoyed every minute of it.

He said that Myntra's future is very bright. "The brand is now very strong, and it will now leverage the strength of the overall group. I feel good about it," he added.

When asked about his future plan, Narayanan did not reveal much, but said that he would take a couple of months to be able to share an update on it.

"Obviously I can't talk about it yet, but I will, when it's appropriate," Narayanan, a former McKinsey executive said.

According to media reports, Narayanan is in discussions with Star TV-owned video streaming app Hotstar for the CEO's position.

Ananth has steered the company through the integration of Jabong and Myntra. He also launched several of its private labels such as HRX, Moda Rapido, and Roadster. He collaborated with international brands like Mango and Dorothy Perkins. He also steered the entire omni-channel strategy of Myntra, starting with opening the first roadster store in Bengaluru in 2017.