Udaan's CFO Aditya Pande quits to join IndiGo parent as group CEO

InterGlobe Enterprises, the parent company of domestic carrier IndiGo, has announced the appointment of Aditya Pande as its Group Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 March 2024.

"With the exception of IndiGo, Aditya (Pande) will have overall responsibility for setting InterGlobe's strategic agenda and to oversee and continue to strengthen the leadership of the company's line businesses and the corporate staff functions," the company said in a statement.

Pande will report to Rahul Bhatia, CEO, InterGlobe, and all the existing direct reports would, in turn, report to Pande.

This move by InterGlobe is to strengthen its current leadership team as it moves ahead with its ambitious and diversified global plans.

Pande is joining InterGlobe after a successful stint of over three years as Group CFO at India’s largest business-to-business e-commerce firm Udaan. The Bengaluru-based firm on Monday said that Pande has decided to pursue opportunities outside of Udaan. During his tenure, Pande played a pivotal role in shaping Udaan’s financial strategy marked by strategic financial decision-making, implementation of resilient financial systems, successful fundraising, and a razor-sharp focus on fiscal management. As Pande transitions, the firm said the solid foundation laid during his tenure will enable the company to tap future growth opportunities, capitalize on scale, and leverage cost synergies.

“I would like to thank Aditya (Pande) for his invaluable contribution to the organisation and wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” said Vaibhav Gupta, co-founder and CEO, Udaan.

Prior to Udaan, Pande worked at IndiGo, General Electric, and Arthur Andersen.

Udaan also announced senior level organisational changes aligned with the company’s philosophy to empower and promote internal talent. These changes are in line with the company’s commitment to drive profitable growth and continue strengthening core capabilities while driving ‘efficiency with excellence’ agenda.

Kiran Thadimarri, Group Finance Controller, will be elevated to be a part of the Executive Management Team with the additional responsibility of handling Treasury operations, Corporate Finance, and Corporate Audit, in addition to his existing responsibility of Financial Controller. In his enhanced role, Thadimarri will report to the CEO.

Thadimarri has been associated with Udaan for close to three years and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. In a career spanning two decades, Thadimarri graduated from GE's premier leadership programmes, was CFO of GE Water, South Asia, has worked closely with Aditya Pande (outgoing Group CFO, Udaan) at GE Healthcare during his 14-year stint at GE, and subsequently co-founded a Healthcare Technology Distribution company.

Vishnu Menon, Head-Corporate Strategy & IR, will take on the additional responsibility of Business Finance. He will continue to report to the CEO. Menon has been associated with Udaan for the past four years. He is an MBA from IIM Calcutta with a degree in Engineering from the Kerala University. In the past, Vishnu has worked as a management consultant with Bain & Co and was also the Founder and CEO of Wandertrails, an experiential travel startup.

Both Thadimarri and Menon will work towards further strengthening the financial and governance practices at Udaan with the objective of enabling the company to achieve operational profitability and public market readiness in the next 12-18 months.

Udaan’s valuation has fallen by about 43.5 per cent to around $1.75 billion in a down round (post-allotment of Series E round), according to people familiar with the development. At its peak, the Bengaluru-based unicorn was valued at $3.1 billion in January 2021.

In December 2023, Udaan raised $340 million in Series E financing amid tight liquidity conditions and a global economic slowdown. The funding round was led by M&G plc, with participation from existing equity investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global.

The firm recently laid off about 120 employees, or 6 per cent of its workforce of 1,600, as part of its focus on profitability. In November 2022, Udaan laid off 350 employees across department functions in a move to drive cost efficiency. Before that, in June 2022, the firm sacked 180 employees.

Udaan’s gross merchandise value (GMV) decreased by 43.1 per cent to Rs 5,629 crore in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from Rs 9,900 crore in FY22, according to media platform Entrackr. The sale of traded goods on the online platform was the primary revenue driver for the company, accounting for 96 per cent of the total GMV. This income shrank by 43.7 per cent to Rs 5,408 crore in FY23. Udaan’s losses contracted 33.7 per cent to Rs 2,076 crore in FY23 from Rs 3,132 crore in FY 22, according to Entrackr.