OLX India CEO moving to investment firm Naspers

OLX India, has said it’s CEO and founder Amarjit Singh Batra will be moving to investment firm Naspers for a greater role.

Naspers, a South African media conglomerate, invested in Buenos Aires-based OLX in 2010 and has been a strong competitor to Craigslist in the US and Quikr in India.

Batra, who joined OLX in 2008, has been instrumental in building OLX India as the undisputed market leader as well as a household name. He joined OLX at a time when consumer Internet business in India was at a nascent stage, and the concept of second-hand buying and selling between individuals was almost unknown. Starting out as the first employee of OLX India, he has built the business from scratch to a 550-strong-team today, a statement said.

Batra not only pioneered the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) classifieds business in India, but also led OLX to become the largest classifieds platform in the country commanding 80 per cent market-share of the C2C classifieds business, and a brand-awareness that has now been consistently seven times or more than that of the closest competitor.

Besides, he also led OLX to emerge as the biggest platform for pre-owned cars in the country commanding 72 per cent market-share of the pre-owned car trade. Other key categories that thrived under his leadership were that of pre-owned motorcycles, where OLX has a 75 per cent market-share of the online trade, and mobile phones, where OLX commands 50 per cent market share. Real estate and jobs are also categories that he has built from a horizontal perspective, giving OLX an underlying advantage in the space.

Martin Scheepbouwer, Global CEO of OLX Group, said, “India is a huge and diverse market, and the way OLX India has shaped up to become an undisputable leader in the horizontal classifieds space is testimony to Amar’s vision, strategy, and execution. What I am most pleased with is the strong leadership team and culture that Amar has built at OLX India, which has laid a solid foundation for taking the company to the next level. While he will move on, his legacy will live on in the brand, team, and the culture he has built.”