A month after India’s e-commerce poster boy announced a new CEO, two of the company’s top executives—Mukesh Bansal, head of commerce platform, and chief business officer Ankit Nagori—have put in their papers.
“Mukesh Bansal is moving out of his active role to be an advisor to the company,” a Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement. “Ankit Nagori is also moving on from Flipkart to start an entrepreneurial venture in the sports domain.”
On Jan. 11, Flipkart had announced that co-founder Binny Bansal would take over as the new CEO from Sachin Bansal, who’s being bumped up to become the company’s executive chairman. Since then, there have been rumours of churn in the company’s top management, although Flipkart has been denying them.
Mukesh joined Flipkart in May 2014 after the e-commerce major acquired his online fashion retail portal Myntra. He had co-founded Myntra in 2007 with Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena. The company was sold to Flipkart in what was one of the largest acquisitions in the Indian e-commerce space. Previously, Mukesh, who is an Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur graduate, spent eight years in the US and worked for four different Silicon Valley startups.
At Flipkart, Mukesh has been a key decision maker, according to senior officials of the company. He was even thought to be the CEO-apparent after Sachin.
“Last year, we set out to build the best leadership team in India and we have done exactly that. With the caliber of this team, I am very confident that Flipkart is in safe hands and this team is eminently capable of charting the course for next phase of Flipkart journey,” Mukesh said in an email to Flipkart employees. “I am very excited with Binny coming in as CEO and my transition will enable him to work directly with CP (commerce platform) leadership.”
Mukesh will hand over his role to Binny, he said, and “will be available as long as required to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”
Nagori has been with Flipkart for six of the eight years it has been in business. In his email to employees, Nagori too said he will be around for a few months to hand over.
“I am planning a venture in the sports domain which I can talk more about over coffee or beer, do reach out! Also, in the next few months I will make sure I spend more time with my family, who has always been fully supportive of my adventures with Flipkart,” Nagori said in the email.
Mukesh’s future plans are less clear. However, he is apparently “looking forward to a long break.”