Upgrad appoints former Tech Mahindra chief CP Gurnani to its board

Online upskilling startup Upgrad on Wednesday said that it has appointed former Tech Mahindra managing director and chief executive C P Gurnani to its board of directors.

Gurnani's addition as an independent non-executive director increased the Mumbai-based startup’s board to seven members, cofounder Ronnie Screwvala told ET.

Other board members are founders Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig and three representatives from investors Temasek and International Finance Corporation, he added.


Gurnani is the second independent director. Chegg’s Dan Rosensweig became the first in March 2023.

Gurnani left Tech Mahindra on December 20, after spending 19 years as MD and CEO at the Pune-based information technology services company. Prior to that, he was founder and CEO at HCL Perot JV, among other roles in the past.

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“India can be the skill factory of the world... Worldwide, there is a talent crunch and the need to create the right kind of employment. The industry is moving much faster than academia is able to move,” Gurnani told ET, explaining why he joined Upgrad.

“Today, Upgrad is present in 10 countries. How soon can we get to 100 countries? How do we make an equal mix between B2C and B2B? How do we make our B2C offerings more agile? The potential of all this gets me excited about the role,” he added.

Upgrad, which has made 11 acquisitions and acquihires since inception, has a mix of 80% to 20% in terms of its B2B and B2C revenue break-up currently, Screwvala told ET. The company aims to invert this ratio to a 40 to 60 over the next two years, he added.

For the year ended March 2023, Upgrad had nearly doubled its turnover year-on-year to Rs 1,194 crore. Losses at the company, however, widened 67% to Rs 1,142 crore in FY23 from Rs 684 crore in the previous year.