India’s most valuable e-commerce company has just announced a new CEO.
Binny Bansal will take over as the new CEO of Flipkart, replacing Sachin Bansal, who will become the company’s executive chairman. The company has not yet specified when the changes will be effected.
The Bansals (not related) are the co-founders of the Bengaluru-based company, currently valued at over $15 billion (Rs1 lakh crore).
Sachin has been the CEO since 2007, while Binny was the COO. In his new role, Sachin “will provide strategic direction for Flipkart, mentor the senior leadership of the company and look for new investment opportunities,” the company said in a blog post.
As the CEO, Binny will now be responsible for Flipkart’s operations and be accountable for the company’s performance. “All the business areas—commerce, Ekart and Myntra will now report to Binny. All corporate functions including human resources, finance, legal, corporate communications and corporate development will also report to Binny,” the company said.
The reshuffle would free Sachin from day-to-day activities at Flipkart, which analysts believe is a positive decision.
“As a company matures, you need to have leaders that handle not just the company’s internal matters but also focus on external issues such as government policies, regulations, etc. So it is good that the company has demarcated Sachin’s role so that he can single-mindedly focus on the external environment while the other co-founder can deal with the company’s internal matters,” Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director of management consulting firm Technopak, told Quartz.