Flipkart names Krishnamurthy as chief; Bansal to be group CEO

Priyanka Sahay & Harsimran JulkaMoneycontrol

In a sign of stiffening controls over Flipkart, the company’s board led by investors on Monday announced the appointment of Tiger Global Management's former executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy as Flipkart's Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The top-deck rejig hands over the control of Flipkart’s operations to Krishnamurthy, which could be a precursor of a tighter control by one of its largest investors Tiger Global Management over the e-tailer, which was devalued thrice in 2016 by global hedge fund investors. 

Moneycontrol had earlier written that 2017 is expected to see tighter controls of investors over Flipkart.

Meanwhile, co-founder Binny Bansal, who was appointed CEO of Flipkart last year, has now been elevated as Group Chief Executive Officer — a newly-formed position. Sachin Bansal, who was made the Executive Chairman last January, will continue to hold the position.

“Kalyan will be responsible for operationally driving Flipkart and will be responsible for Flipkart P&L (profit and loss),” the company said in a statement. Launched in October 2007, Flipkart claims to have over 100,000 registered sellers on its platform.

Krishnamurthy was also Flipkart's first interim chief financial officer. He had also served as the categories head before he left the organisation in November 2014. It was Binny Bansal who brought Krishnamurthy back to the company in June 2016.

Source: TracxnEven though Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led demonetisation drive has hit the country’s e-commerce industry hard, it has been a double whammy on Flipkart which was reeling under a devaluation exercise by Morgan Stanley. The investment bank’s latest exercise valued Flipkart at about USD 5.5 billion compared to the USD 15.2 billion it was valued at in May 2016.

The company is reported to be in talks to raise USD 1 billion. The company in the past has raised almost USD 2.6 billion so far.Besides, Flipkart also announced a new organisation structure with Flipkart group organisation at the apex level. "One of the focus areas of the Group will be to build a portfolio of new, high value-creating businesses that are disruptive and will transform commerce in India," the company said.

Binny Bansal will oversee capital allocation across all the group companies, the selection of their chief executives and their compensation.

Flipkart acquired Jabong last year was optimistic about the acquisition. “2016 has been truly an extraordinary year for Flipkart. We effected a complete turnaround of the business and consolidated our leadership position in e-commerce. Our execution engine is revved up. Our customer experience and product quality has shown tremendous improvement," said Binny Bansal. It also claimed Myntra to have become USD 1 billion gross merchandise value run rate company.

“We are now ready to build the Flipkart of the future as we continue on our journey of transforming commerce in India through technology. I am confident that this new organisation structure will deliver further value for Flipkart group," he added. Follow @startup_18