This Flipkart honcho set to be replaced? Walmart cracks the whip

Walmart Inc's newly acquired Indian retailer Flipkart is likely to appoint a new chief executive officer (CEO) at the group level, replacing Binny Bansal. One of the most prominent names that may replace Bansal is Flipkart Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy, reported Mint. According to the report, Walmart is considering both internal and external candidates for the position of group CEO.

The report also stated that, as the co-founder and current group CEO Binny Bansal is not actively involved in the daily operations, so Flipkart may likely appoint a new CEO. However, Binny Bansal will remain the chairman of the company.

In January 2017, Krishnamurthy was appointed as Flipkart’s CEO and in May, this year,  Walmart acquired about 77 percent of Flipkart for nearly $16 billion. This was the U.S. retail giant’s largest-ever deal and a move to take onarch-rivall Amazon in a key growth market.

According to a report by Economic times, Walmart, last week had moved several of its leaders to senior positions at the group level at Flipkart. It appointed a new chief financial officer, general counsel, chief ethics and compliance officer and group controller.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart Kalyan Krishnamurthy earlier said that the disruption in e-commerce segment has been because of Flipkart for the last 10 years and that it would continue to do so for another decade. 

The CEO had told PTI that Flipkart does not strategise business matters based on the behaviour of their competitors, but on their strategy to woo customers to make purchases from their technological platforms.

"We are not here to prove things based on how our competitors behave in a particular way. We are entirely led by our own strategies to woo customers to make purchases from our technological platforms,"" he said.

"This is the way we look at it. We don't strategise looking at our competitors", he added.

"Disruption in the e-commerce category has been because of Flipkart for the last 10 years. I actually think, the next 10 will also be exactly like that," he said, when asked if Reliance Retail would pose biggest challenge to e-commerce players, including Amazon, in future.