Tata Digital is undergoing a sweeping realignment after reporting a decline in operating revenue and multiple years of leadership churn. Under its new chief executive, the company is moving away from a growth-at-all-costs model to a disciplined, group-wide integration strategy aimed at stabilising Tata Neu and consolidating the conglomerate’s sprawling digital ambitions.
A Difficult Financial Year Forces a Strategic Reset
Tata Digital, the consumer-technology arm of the Tata Group, is confronting one of its most consequential resets since its creation, following a year marked by falling revenue and a narrowing, though still sizable, loss.
The company reported a 13.8% decline in operating revenue in FY25, falling to ₹32,188 crore. Net losses improved to ₹828 crore from ₹1,201 crore the previous year, offering a glimmer of operational tightening even as overall performance lagged expectations. Executives familiar with the company’s discussions say the numbers have sharpened the urgency to rethink priorities.
The mandate now rests with Sajith Sivanandan, who took charge in September. A former president of Jio Mobile Digital Services, Sivanandan is the firm’s third CEO since 2019, a sign of the persistent turbulence at the top as the group struggles to build a unified consumer-facing digital ecosystem. His arrival triggered the third major strategic overhaul in four years — an effort to move from a fragmented, GMV-driven growth model to an integrated, value-focused enterprise.
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Reorienting Around Services, Loyalty, and Group-Level Integration
People aware of the ongoing strategy conversations say Tata Digital is reorganizing around three core streams: financial services, digital marketing services, and a unified loyalty engine intended to bind together the Tata Group’s diverse consumer businesses.
The consolidation has already begun. Tata Digital has started centralizing digital marketing mandates from Titan, IHCL, Tata Motors, and Tata Consumer Products, effectively positioning itself as the conglomerate’s in-house digital and customer-funnel engine. The move is aimed at reducing duplicated spends, improving data efficiency, and strengthening brand monetization across the group.
A significant piece of the restructuring involves the future of Tata Neu, the super-app launched in April 2022. Neu has struggled to live up to its promise as a unified consumer gateway, and insiders say the company will implement a headcount reduction of more than 50% to streamline operations. The emphasis, they note, will shift from aggressive expansion to operational clarity and measured scale.
BigBasket and Croma Sharpen Their Focus as Competition Intensifies
As Tata Digital recalibrates its larger ecosystem, its major subsidiaries BigBasket and Croma are undergoing strategic reviews to address increasingly competitive landscapes.
For BigBasket, the immediate priority is BB Now, its express grocery arm, which faces heightened competition from Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. The quick-commerce segment has become defined by sharply compressed delivery timelines and high customer expectations, forcing incumbents to refine both speed and supply-chain efficiency. BigBasket, long the dominant player in full-stack online groceries, is now working to narrow the gap in the express-delivery race without compromising its broader grocery infrastructure.
At Croma, the consumer electronics chain, the company is shutting unprofitable stores and doubling down on an offline-first model supported by a complementary online channel. Rather than chasing scale against Flipkart and Amazon, the retailer is seeking stability by tightening operations and strengthening its differentiated in-store experience.
Sivanandan, according to people familiar with the matter, is working closely with the leadership of both businesses to develop clearer execution roadmaps.
A Broader Effort to Stabilise Tata’s Digital Vision
Tata Digital’s overhaul is unfolding against the backdrop of years of experimentation by the Tata Group to build a coherent digital presence across e-commerce, grocery, finance, hospitality, mobility, and consumer goods. Its super-app strategy has faced repeated delays, leadership churn, and inconsistent consumer traction.
Company insiders say the new plan marks a decisive shift: away from a sprawling, high-burn digital push toward a model that strengthens the Tata Group’s existing customer base, integrates service layers, and clamps down on inefficiencies. The intention is to unify loyalty programmes, centralize marketing spends, and create a single rewards currency that can move seamlessly across the group’s touchpoints.
Tata Digital declined to comment on the ongoing changes, but the contours of the strategy point toward a more disciplined approach one that seeks to root Tata’s digital future not merely in scale but in cohesion.
