eBay announces Rajan Mehra as new Country Manager of eBay India

[mandy]

***Message from Rajan Mehra - 2007: Looking at The Road Ahead*** 


Dear Members,

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

With the New Year, I will be taking on the additional responsibility for the eBay India Marketplace. I recognise that while this is an exciting opportunity it has many challenges that come with it. My team and I look forward to meeting your high expectations from eBay and I have no doubt that with the support of our community eBay India will continue to be India’s premier online shopping destination.

I’d like to take this opportunity to look back on some of our achievements in 2006 and outline some key 2007 priorities for eBay India.

2006 was an excellent year for eBay India. Our successes include:

• eBay being unanimously chosen India’s No.1 online shopping destination by all surveys
• The eBay brand becoming pre-eminent in the mind of Internet Users
• Strong growth in Global Trade, opening a new business opportunity for Indian sellers
• Greater safety for buyers through an enhanced Buyer Protection Program
• Localisation of site policies (with significant help and feedback from our community)
• Successfully partnering with the government and law enforcement community to enhance safety on site

While we’ve tasted success in 2006, we still face a few challenges that we need to address in 2007 and beyond.

A key priority for me is to continue to make our site simpler and more convenient. Given the explosion of organized retail, the Indian consumer has many choices and we recognize that. It will be our endeavour to ensure that eBay is the first choice for any consumer looking for a wide variety of goods, at a range of prices and wishing to have a convenient shopping experience. We believe the marketplace format is the most suitable to deliver to this consumer value proposition; however we also recognize that we cannot achieve our goals without the support of our seller community. It is important for eBay and our seller community to work towards ensuring that our consumers have a safe transaction experience that delights them; in our consumers delight is our success. As a first step in this regard, I have recently reorganized our team structure to reflect the importance we place on this priority. I know that some of our best sellers already delight their customers and I’d encourage them to share their best practises with the community to ensure increased vibrancy of our platform.

Global trade on the eBay platform has been growing rapidly and India is poised to gain disproportionately from this phenomenon. At eBay India, we will continue to evangelize the benefits of global trade to the Indian seller community and work hard to ensure that sellers understand the benefits of global trade, as also the expectations of our global consumers. Access to a global selling platform is the ultimate form of empowerment and allows eBay to create impact like no other company; it is one of the reasons I feel proud to work for eBay.

The Indian internet industry has tremendous potential and Indian e-commerce will undoubtedly grow exponentially. That said, it is important to ensure that the consumer has a safe trading environment. In 2006, we have worked closely with various government and law-enforcement agencies to ensure a safe trading platform and will actively continue our work in this area.

None of what we hope to achieve can be accomplished without the support of our community. Our community has always been our most vocal supporter and our strongest critic. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for support in the last few years and look forward to your continued support in 2007. I’d also love to have your feedback on our plans and will be available for an Open House Discussion on 10th Jan from 5 -6 PM.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Gautam on behalf of eBay India for his exemplary leadership and the fantastic work he has done in the past few years. His passion for eBay and its Community is unmatched and I am sure that he will not be an easy act to follow :-).

See you on 10th!

Best Regards,
Rajan Mehra
Country Manager – eBay India

more info: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/in/200701031942112.html

Farewell message from  outgoing country manager Gautam Thakar:

***Until We Meet Again - Note from Gautam Thakar*** 

03 January, 2007 | 06:59 PM IST


Wish you all a very happy new year!

As we enter 2007 I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the year gone by as also share some news while wishing you a fabulous 2007.

Effective Jan 1 2007 I will be taking on the role of Senior Director, International Marketing with eBay and relocating to the US. In this role I will be responsible for coordinating the marketing efforts across eBay's 32 markets outside the US. While I am sad to leave the opportunity to guide the business in India to the next level, I am excited at the chance of making a difference across eBay globally. In this new role, I am confident that I can continue to champion the cause of the India business and help make positive business changes that will help all of us.

I believe that in large part, I have received this opportunity to take on a global role because of the strong progress of eBay in India and that was because of all of you. 2006 was the first full year on the eBay platform and all of us in eBay India owe a huge thanks to our community for all your hard work, efforts, feedback, dedication and perseverance to help change things for the better. I know that we have at times taken a firm stand on areas where we did not think change was justified and that we haven’t always been able to fulfil your expectations on timing – especially on some of the changes that have global impact. We are committed to improving on that score and will do better in 2007.

This change in 2007 will be spearheaded by Rajan Mehra who will be the new single country manager for all of our India operations. Some of you may know Rajan who was the Country Manager for New Ventures & Payments till date and he has been a long time veteran of ecommerce. Rajan is very passionate about localizing and truly making eBay India customer focused by integrating all aspects of the business that impact you – from Trust and Safety, Customer Support & Account Management to PaisaPay. Towards that end and to dramatically improve the user experience we have reorganized the team structure and he will share more details about that and his vision for the Indian business shortly.

The team under Rajan’s leadership is committed to helping you grow your business and I am sure that you all will support Rajan and help him with your usual innovative ideas just as you helped me through the last many years. India can and will become one of the biggest eBay businesses over time and I know that with all your support we can make that happen much faster than imagined.

While I relocate to the US after close to 7 years with Baazee and eBay, my heart remains very much with the Indian community and I hope to remain connected with all of you. I will miss a lot of the insights from discussions in the community about the product and other ideas. Hence I have requested Sapana to keep me informed about the top community issues and interactions. I also hope to come on the discussion boards and host open houses like in the past. For those of you who sell internationally (and I hope all of you do), you may just find orders from my id and I look forward to receiving products from you in the power seller packages :-).

Most importantly I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a wonderful prosperous and joyous new year. May all your dreams come true in 2007 and I look forward to watching your business grow manifold over the next year.

Warm Regards
Gautam

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/in/200701031859192.html

Announcement of new country manager:

***eBay announces Rajan Mehra as Country Manager, eBay India *** 


Rajan Mehra takes on the responsibilities of the Country Manager, eBay India with effect from January 1, 2007. In his new role, Rajan Mehra will lead the entire eBay Portfolio in India, including the eBay India Marketplace, eBay B2B India Motors, the Kijiji classifieds website & PaisaPay. Rajan has been closely associated with the Baazee and eBay business since the past 6 years.

In his earlier role as Country Manager for New Ventures & Payments of eBay India, Rajan successfully led the B2B Motors business, the Kijiji classifieds website & PaisaPay. Rajan is looking forward to this opportunity of leading the eBay India Marketplace business and interacting closely with the eBay community.

Gautam Thakar, formerly Country Manager, eBay India Marketplace will now take on the role of Senior Director, International Marketing, eBay. Gautam’s new responsibilities will include coordinating eBay’s marketing efforts across its 32 international markets and driving global trade across the eBay sites. Gautam will be relocating to the eBay headquarters at San Jose, USA.

Wishing Rajan and Gautam all success in the new roles!

Regards,
The eBay Team

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/in/200701031808292.html