Meritnation appoints Dinkar Devgan as head of HR

Delhi-based Applect Learning, which runs online education venture Meritnation, has appointed Dinkar Devgan as vice president, human resources (HR). As part of his role, Devgan will lead the HR function at the company and will partner with the leadership team on all the strategic aspects of HR.

Prior to joining Meritnation, Devgan was leading the HR vertical for the consumer business at American Express. He had also worked at companies like HSBC and Birlasoft Ltd and holds a MBA degree in HR management / personnel administration from Symbiosis institute of Management Studies.

"After spending a significant part of my career in the financial services sector, I am excited to be a part of the online education space which is growing at a rapid pace. Being a knowledge intensive industry, human capital is the most valuable resource and I am excited about the challenges that comes along with this opportunity," said Devgan.

Started in 2009 by IIM Bangalore alumni Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani, Meritnation.com provides courseware to students from classes 1st to 12th in maths, science and English for CBSE, ICSE and other leading state boards. Its offerings also include development of courseware, assessment items, teaching pieces, simulations and conventional training materials. It claims to have reached a user-base of 5.6 million and is aiming to cross 7 million by the end of current academic year. The company is looking at creating an offline presence. As a pilot, it had launched a learning centre in Gurgaon a year ago which elicited good response.

Early this year, Info Edge (India) Ltd, the largest consumer internet firm in India by market value, had infused an additional Rs 30 crore ($5.5 million) in Applect Learning Systems, which runs an online education and assessment venture through Meritnation.

With the fresh investment, Info Edge's total exposure to Applect rose to Rs 61.5 crore and it now holds around 54 per cent stake in the company, making it a subsidiary.