Binny’s quitting seems to be a case of his hand being forced

BENGALURU: Binny Bansal’s sudden decision on Tuesday to quit Flipkart as chairman and group CEO seems to have been a case of his hand being forced, as is evident from his statement: “For some time, I have been mulling over the right time to step away from an operating role at Flipkart Group. My plan was to continue in my current role for a few more quarters to continue the transition after closing the deal with Walmart. However, my decision to step down has been accelerated by certain personal events that have taken place in the recent past.”


Even the joint statement acknowledged that he had been “contemplating a transition for some time and we have been working on a succession plan”.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Flipkart’s CEO, was with Tiger Global — a Wall Street investment firm that has been the most prolific backer of Indian start-ups — before he rejoined Flipkart as head of category management in June 2016, and was elevated as CEO in January 2017. His earlier two-year stint with the e-tailer ended in 2014 following differences with Sachin.

It was Binny who brought Krishnamurthy back from Tiger, which was then the largest shareholder in Flipkart. A few months later, Krishnamurthy succeeded Binny as CEO of Flipkart in a management rejig engineered by the investors. His ties with Binny were said to be cordial, till equations changed with the Walmart acquisition.

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