High-profile exits continue at Justdial, CFO Ramkumar Krishnamachari resigns

Ramkumar Krishnamachari, Chief Financial Officer of Just Dial Ltd has resigned from the company, according to stock-exchange filing. He, however, will be relieved from his duties with effect from 30 September.

Krishnamachari led the firm’s finance, legal, taxation and secretarial functions. He also took the responsibility of investor relations and stakeholder management.

He was associated with the local business search engine for the past 7 years and had played an important role in the company’s IPO launch in 2013.

This is the third high-profile exit at Just Dial in three years and second in less than a year. In October 2016, RV Raman stepped down from the position of chief technology officer. Raman was the second CTO to leave the company in a year after his predecessor Sandipan Chattopadhyay resigned in December 2015.

Founded in 1996 by VSS Mani, Just Dial is one of a few digital businesses to get listed on stock exchanges. The company’s database consisted of approximately 17.9 million listings compared with 16.3 million listings, representing a year-on-year growth of 9.5 per cent.

Since the launch of IPO, company has witnessed ups and downs in the business and share both. Two years ago, its stock price peaked to Rs 1,800 per share, but has now slumped to Rs 364.

The company recorded a 37.2% dip in its net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2017. It posted a net profit of Rs 25.3 crore for the fourth quarter compared with Rs 40.3 crore a year earlier.

Its net profit stood at Rs 121.3 crore in FY2016-17 compared with Rs 142.7 crore in FY2015-16.

As of 31 March 2017, the company conducted around 435,360 campaigns for paid advertisers compared with 368,800 campaigns as of 31 March 2016, representing a year-on-year growth of 18%.