Snapdeal's HR chief Saurabh Nigam quits, ahead merger with Flipkart

Struggling online marketplace Snapdeal's Human Resources (HR) Head Saurabh Nigam has resigned. Amid the talk of Snapdeal potential sale to Flipkart, many senior executives had recently quit the company.

The exit news was confirmed by the spokesperson of the company. "After spearheading Snapdeal's Human Capital function for more than three years, Saurabh Nigam has decided to move on to pursue further career interests in a field close to his heart," the spokesperson confirmed the development to sources. Nigam also on social network site Twitter wrote about the development though he did not clarify where he is heading to or what his next venture would be.

"All my bag packed and ready to leave," Nigam tweeted day before yesterday.

Now, Pravin Kutty, Associate Vice President - HR and Administration, will head the Human Capital function.

In the last quarter, Snapdeal has seen exit of senior executives like Tony Navin, Sandeep Komaravelly, Anand Chandrasekaran, Abhishek Kumar and Amit Maheshwari.

Nigam's exit comes at a time when Snapdeal's largest investor SoftBank has been proactively mediating a potential sale of Snapdeal to Flipkart for the last few weeks.

The Japanese investment firm, according to sources, has succeeded in getting board members to agree to the said sale and a term sheet for due diligence with Flipkart has been signed.

One of the leading contenders in the Indian e-commerce space, Snapdeal has seen its fortunes failing amid strong competition from Amazon and Flipkart.

Compared to a valuation of about $6.5 billion in February 2016, the sale to Flipkart could see Snapdeal being valued at about $1 billion. The deal between Snapdeal and Flipkart, if completed, would mark the biggest acquisition in the Indian e-commerce space.