Bengaluru: Indian e-commerce player Flipkart announced that co-founder Sachin Bansal has stepped down as the chief executive officer of the company. He will be replaced by other co-founder Binny Bansal.
“Sachin Bansal, the CEO and co-founder of Flipkart, will be the executive chairman of the company and Binny Bansal, COO and co-founder of Flipkart, will be the chief executive officer of Flipkart,” Flipkart said in a statement.
As Flipkart’s executive chairman, Sachin will provide strategic direction to the company and mentor the senior leadership.
Also continuing to be the chairman of the board, Sachin will lookout for new investment opportunities, champion Indian e-commerce sector and represent Flipkart in external forums, the statement added.
“We believe that Flipkart can play a transformational role in improving commerce in India. In this next phase of the journey, it will be our endeavour to fulfil this responsibility and prove that India can produce a world class Internet company that can outshine any global behemoth,” said Sachin in a statement.
Binny, the new CEO, will operationally drive the company with accountability of Flipkart’s overall performance.
All business areas encompassing commerce, ekart and Myntra will report to the new CEO including corporate functions human resources, finance, legal, corporate communications and corporate development, the statement said.
“The journey ahead is equally exciting and challenging. Flipkart has all the necessary ingredients of brilliant talent and great technology to win this next phase as well. We will continue to build world-class customer experience, expand our supply chain infrastructure to reach all parts of India, drive innovations in mobile commerce and bring in disruptive technologies,” said Binny.
Binny added Flipkart is in a very strong leadership position with over 60 percent market share of the mobile commerce market and 50 million customers with clear leadership in smartphones and fashion.
And Flipkart’s fashion subsidiary Myntra will continue to be led by Mukesh Bansal who will also head the company’s core business commerce platform along with the ads business, the statement said.
“Today, Flipkart is a brand trusted by millions across India backed by a robust seller ecosystem and world-class technology. We are confident that in the coming years, we will continue this momentum as we spread the benefits of e-commerce across the length and breadth of India,” said Mukesh.
Started in 2007 and currently valued at $15.2 billion, Flipkart has a customer base of 50 million registered users offering 30 million products across more than 70 categories of products including books, media, electronics, furniture and lifestyle among others.