Softbank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho announced the appointment of Jubilant Bhartia Group founder Hari S. Bhartia and three other seasoned business leaders as independent directors on Friday.
In addition to Bhartia, Meesho has onboarded former JP Morgan Chairman for South and South East Asia, Kalpana Morparia, PhonePe non-executive Chairman Rohit Bhagat, and San Francisco-based AI company Ema’s CEO Surojit Chatterjee. “As we embark on the next phase of growth, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Surojit Chatterjee, Kalpana Morparia, Rohit Bhagat, and Hari S. Bhartia as independent directors to Meesho’s board,” Meesho Founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said in a statement.
Bhartia is the Founder and Co-Chairman of Jubilant Bhartia Group. The group has four flagship companies listed on Indian stock exchanges, with a combined market capitalization of approximately $7.65 billion. Bhartia also serves as the Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Jubilant Pharmova Ltd and Co-Chairman of Jubilant Ingrevia Ltd and Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in India.
Morparia, before her tenure at JP Morgan, played a crucial role at ICICI Bank, where she was instrumental in the group’s capital raising exercise and the merger of ICICI Ltd with ICICI Bank in 2002.
Bhagat currently holds the position of non-executive Chairman at PhonePe, is an independent director at AssetMark, and serves as the Lead Independent Trustee of the Franklin Templeton ETF Trust. His previous board and advisory roles include Axis Bank, Flipkart, and FreeCharge.
Chatterjee, as Chief Product Officer, guided Coinbase through a successful IPO in 2021. During his tenure at Google, he scaled Google Mobile Ads and Google Shopping into multi-billion-dollar businesses as VP and Head of Product.
“We are confident that their collective wisdom and diverse perspectives will play a pivotal role in steering the company towards new milestones and sustained success in revolutionizing the e-commerce landscape in India,” Aatrey said.
Meesho’s board also includes co-founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal; Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments and Mergers and Acquisitions at Prosus Ventures; Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director at Peak XV Partners; Mukul Arora, Co-Managing Partner at Elevation Capital; and Sarthak Misra, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
