Flipkart SVP Sandeep Kohli set to depart as top-level churn continues

Sandeep Kohli had joined Flipkart in October 2014 as Director of Engineering and has held several other positions before he became SVP in October 2022

Sandeep Kohli, Senior Vice President (SVP) and head of data centres at Flipkart, is set to leave after over nine years with the company, two people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol. While not finalised, Kohli is likely to start his own venture after ending his stint with the e-commerce major in the coming weeks, one of the people cited above said.

Kohli had joined Flipkart in October 2014 as Director of Engineering and has held several other positions since then before he became SVP in October 2022, according to his LinkedIn. With this development, Kohli joins a growing list of senior executives who are on their way out as Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy pushes for better execution with an aim to turn the e-commerce giant profitable.

“The CEO’s message is clear: the goal is to turn profitable by the end of calendar year 2024. There is no more seeing it as it comes. Flipkart has to be ahead of the industry and show disruptive growth,” one of the people cited above said.

The comments come at a time when Flipkart, and the larger e-commerce industry, has seen business slowing down in the past three-four months at least. The Walmart-owned company even let go of around 1,000 employees, which represents around 5 percent of its total workforce, as part of its annual performance review exercise, Moneycontrol reported in January.

Flipkart did not immediately respond to queries.

SVP churn

Over the past few weeks, Flipkart has lost at least two other SVPs. Amitesh Jha, head of marketplace and categories and Bharath Ram, SVP of Growth and Retention, are also on their way out, CEO Krishnamurthy informed employees in a note on February 20. Both Jha and Ram are quitting Flipkart to start up on their own.

Along with Kohli, Jha and Ram, two other SVPs are also leaving Flipkart.

Cleartrip head Ayyapan R will be moving on after over 11 years with the company and Dheeraj Aneja, head of fintech and payments, is leaving after about joining Flipkart from Mobikwik.

"Our approach to enabling wealth creation and career planning for all employees has given several individuals the opportunity to pursue the next phase of their careers, which has led to some exits among senior management," CEO Krishnamurthy said in his note.

"Amitesh, Ayyappan, Bharath and Dheeraj are part of this talented set of visionary leaders who have chosen to embark on journeys beyond Flipkart...Flipkart's growth in the past decade would have been impossible without their contribution, and we wish them the best in their new ventures and pursuits....we will continue looking for ways to partner with these leaders in the future through the businesses they create."

It is unlikely that Flipkart will hire separately for these positions as the company plans to go slow on hiring, CEO Krishnamurthy told Moneycontrol in an interview earlier.

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“…if we need people in certain functions and capabilities, absolutely (we will hire). But outside of that, we will continue to go slow on hiring new employees,” Krishnamurthy had said earlier.

The chief human resources officer (CHRO) for instance is one role that Flipkart is looking to hire for. Krishnamurthy, apart from his CEO role, has also been overseeing HR operations for now after CHRO Krishna Raghavan quit last month.