Binny Bansal Resigns As Flipkart Group CEO After Probe Into Allegations Of ‘Serious Personal Misconduct’

Flipkart Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Binny Bansal resigned with immediate effect following an investigation into alleged “serious personal misconduct”.

Flipkart is now largely owned by Walmart Inc after the latter acquired 77 per cent of Flipkart for $16 billion in May.

“His decision follows an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart into an allegation of serious personal misconduct,” Walmart Inc said in the press statement. “He strongly denies the allegation. Nevertheless, we had a responsibility to ensure the investigation was deliberate and thorough.”

Walmart added that while the investigation “did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Bansal, it did reveal other lapses in judgement, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation. Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign.”

The statement did not provide and details of the allegations against Bansal.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy will continue to be CEO of Flipkart, which will now include Myntra and Jabong, continuing to operate as separate platforms within the Flipkart business. Ananth Narayanan will continue his leadership role as the CEO of Myntra and Jabong.

Following acquisition by Walmart, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal exited the business by selling his entire stake of over 5 per cent for around Rs 7,000 crore while Binny had retained his 5.5 per cent stake in the group.

Sachin and Binny Bansal (not related to each other) started Flipkart in 2007 with a meagre capital of Rs 4 lakh but grew in to an e-tail behemoth.