India’s top eCommerce company Flipkart has gone and switched up its top management positions for the second time in the past year following a series of valuation write-downs across 2016.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, former managing director of Tiger Global, was reportedly named the new CEO of Flipkart after joining the company this past June. Current CEO Binny Bansal, named CEO in the last shake-up in June, was moved into the new role of group CEO.
Flipkart has been facing some serious competition from global eCommerce giant Amazon of late, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Fund cut the valuation of its holdings in Flipkart by 38 percent in December due to increased competitive pressure from Amazon. Other Flipkart investors have reportedly taken similar measures.
There’s been plenty of talk and rumors in the industry about the possibility of Flipkart going public sometime soon in the U.S., which would be a major move from an Indian company looking to make its mark abroad. But for this eight-year-old eCommerce firm, the prospect of going public has been tossed around but only as a concept.
“We continue to have a significant lead over the competition on all important customer parameters, including sales. We are also the market leader in the biggest categories of eCommerce, including mobiles, fashion, home, electronics and appliances. Our sales are witnessing a steady growth, and in the recent months, we have significantly raised the bar of execution, speed of customer delivery and product quality,” said a Flipkart spokesperson in an email.
The eCommerce industry in India is expected to touch $60 billion to $70 billion (roughly Rs. 3,99,360 crores to Rs. 4,65,920 crores) by 2019, up from $17 billion in 2014. In 2014, Amazon first announced an investment of $2 billion to expand its operations in India. The global eCommerce giant has committed to re-upping those investments in what they consider a key emerging marketplace.