Gautam will oversee Instamart's commercial operations spanning customer-centric growth, category management, and brand relationships and expansion
The development comes days after significant leadership churn was announced at Swiggy, with the departure of CBO Hari Kumar and COO Ankit Jain
Instamart has been struggling to retain its market share and reach EBITDA breakeven in the intensely competitive quick commerce market
Quick commerce major Swiggy
Instamart has appointed Gautam Swaroop as its CBO, days after Hari Kumar stepped down from the role.
Gautam will oversee Instamart’s commercial operations spanning customer-centric growth, category management, and brand relationships and expansion.
Prior to this, Gautam served as the CEO of IPO-bound hospitality giant OYO’s international business vertical. He also served as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and spent over a decade with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
The development comes days after significant leadership churn was announced at Swiggy, with the departure of Kumar and COO Ankit Jain, who left to serve as the head of operations at Nykaa. Kumar had been with Instamart since November 2024.
Earlier in April, Swiggy cofounder Lakshmi Nandan Reddy resigned from the company’s board to “pursue other professional interests”.
Swiggy said Swaroop’s previous expansion experience will aid it in expanding offerings across differentiated assortment and consumption occasions on Instamart and deepen partnerships
with brands.
Instamart has been struggling to retain its market share and reach EBITDA breakeven in the intensely competitive quick commerce market. While Blinkit continues to lead in the segment, IPO-bound Zepto has taken over from Instamart as the second biggest platform. Ecommerce giants like Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart are also pouring billions of dollars into expanding their dark store networks and offering discounting to capture market share.
Swiggy has been shying away from re-engaging in these price wars and is instead focusing on profitability. Nevertheless, it continues to burn cash on its quick commerce vertical. While Instamart’s adjusted revenue rose 48.7% YoY to ₹1,090 Cr in Q4 FY26, its adjusted EBITDA loss widened 2% YoY to ₹858 Cr.
The company is now looking to move Instamart to an inventory-led model, like Blinkit. However, its efforts to make Swiggy an Indian-owned and controlled company (IOCC) failed to secure shareholders’ approval earlier this year. The company has said it is in discussions with its shareholders and will try again to secure the approval.
As a result of the rising investments and losses in Instamart, Swiggy’s consolidated net loss widened 33% YoY to ₹4,154 Cr in FY26.
Source: Inc42 - Startups
