JustDial’s CFO Ramkumar Krishnamachari Steps Down

The chief financial officer of the online local business search engine JustDial, Ramkumar Krishnamachari has announced his resignation from the firm. In a stock exchange filing, JustDial announced the CFO will be relieved of his duties with effect from 30 September 2017.

This is the second high profile exit of a JustDial executive following which there was a 5% dip in their shares. Krishnamachari joined JustDail in 2010 led the firm’s finance, legal, taxation and secretarial functions. He laid the foundations for the firm’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2013 and was responsible for investor relations and stakeholder management.

The company posted a net profit of Rs. 25.3 crore for the fourth quarter and recorded a 37.2% dip in their net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2017. The stock of the company ended at Rs. 363.15, down 4.90% on NSE and reached an intra day low of Rs. 360.60. Their market valuation also saw a decline of Rs. 129.13 crore to Rs. 2,525.15 crore. Global investment banking and diversified financial services group Macquarie said that CFO’s exit comes at a difficult time given that the company continues to grapple with execution issues.

JustDial’s database consists of approximately 17.9 million listings and their app is available on Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows platforms. Founded by V.S.S. Mani, JustDial provides search services aimed at making several day to day tasks conveniently actionable and accessible to the users. SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, EGCS and SAP Ventures have invested in this company. Amitabh Bachchan also made an investment of Rs. 6.27 lakh in the company by buying 62,794 shares at Rs. 10 per share in 2013.

The company has conducted around 435,360 campaigns for paid advertisers as of March 2017, compared to the 368,800 campaigns as of March 2016, thereby representing a growth of 18% year on year. The company’s database also represented a year on year growth of 9.5%.