Tiger takes driver's seat at Flipkart, Kalyan Krishnamurthy is new CEO

Latest Business News - Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have handed over the operational control of the company they built over the past decade to Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the nominee of marquee American investor Tiger Global. 

Krishnamurthy was on Monday named the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the Bengaluru-based company. He replaced co-founder Binny Bansal, who was made the group CEO. 

The change in top leadership takes place a year after then CEO Sachin Bansal was elevated as the chairman. Tiger Global is the largest investor in Flipkart by value.  

The Bansals losing out operational control of Flipkart comes at a time when global rival Amazon, in which Tiger Global holds a minority stake, is stepping up investment in India in an attempt to overtake the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm. In the current backdrop of consolidation, the latest development may free up options for investors to explore a deal to sell Flipkart or merge it with global e-commerce players, eyeing to expand footprint in India, sources said.      

Binny Bansal has been elevated as the group CEO with mandates to look at strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and exploring new business areas. Sachin Bansal will continue to be the chairman.(Read More)

Myntra aims to double sales, turn profitable by March'18

Breaking News - Flipkart-owned Myntra is aiming to become profitable by March 2018, helped by a combination of rationalising costs, cutting discounts and introducing more private labels.

The online fashion retailer, which has crossed a revenue run rate of $1 billion, also expects to double the number to over $2 billion during this financial year.

"...We crossed a billion dollar run rate this year, we want to cross a $2 billion run rate by 2018 March...We want to be not just unit economic positive but overall profitability. We want to exit the next year with EBIDTA zero January-March 2018," Myntra Chief Executive Officer Ananth Narayanan told PTI.

He added that another focus area for the company this year will be to provide more personalised services to customers.

"We are focusing on four things -- continue to reduce discounting, continue to ramp up private labels, reduce supply chain costs and increase consumer engagement. These are things that will help us achieve our targets," he said.(Read More)