Snapdeal names former Hindustan Unilever senior executive Kanika Kalra as its VP - Marketing

NEW DELHI: Snapdeal, the country's largest online marketplace, has named former Hindustan Unilever senior executive Kanika Kalra as its vice president for Marketing, the New Delhi-headquartered company announced on Tuesday.
Prior to joining Snapdeal, Kalra, who holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow and a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Delhi University, was the global brand director for Hindustan Unilever, where she spearheaded key innovations in the skincare category, according to an official statement released by the company.

She has also had stints with multinationals, Pepsico and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, as part of their brand marketing teams, the statement added.

"We are thrilled to welcome Kanika. She comes with a vast and distinguished experience in brand marketing. As we look at defining more innovative solutions for our customers, I am sure she will add tremendous value and further fuel our growth," said Rohit Bansal, co-founder and chief operating officer, Snapdeal.

The latest top-level hire comes about eight months after ET reported that the the SoftBank, Foxconn and Alibaba Group-backed company had poached Anup Vikal, the then chief financial officer of mobile network operator Aircel, as its new finance head.

"As ecommerce continues to revolutionize the Indian economy, I am confident that Snapdeal is poised to play an even bigger and more impactful role in the coming years. I am excited to be a part of Snapdeal’s journey and to shepherd the company’s growth as the country’s most preferred retail brand,” Kalra said.

Snapdeal, the country's largest marketplace in terms of sellers transacting on its platform, has been on a hiring spree over the last 12-18 months, poaching top technology talent from Silicon Valley as well as in India.

In June last year, the company brought on board former Airtel Chief Product Officer Anand Chandrasekaran as its CPO, at a time when it is aggressively bidding to create a products and services ecosystem, similar to that created by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as well as take on, and beat, rivals Flipkart and Amazon.

Other prominent hires, include, naming former Bharti Airtel senior executive Govind Rajan, as its chief strategy officer. Rajan is currently the chief operating officer of Snapdeal-owned online digital payments platform Freecharge.

Additionally, it also appointed former Adobe executive Rajiv Mangla as its chief technology officer, in August last year.

Consultancies, telecom companies and multinational conglomerates have been happy hunting grounds for India’s top consumer internet companies, as they continue to snatch key talent from the likes of McKinsey, Unilever, ITC, P&G and Pepsi, for roles in non-tech functions such as finance, marketing, supply chain and business development.