Flipkart founder Binny Bansal resigns from company board: Report

Flipkart's founder Binny Bansal has resigned from the company's board following the launch of his new venture in the ecommerce sector, reported The Economic Times. As per the report, Binny Bansal informed the board of his resignation earlier this week.

“Flipkart is in a robust position, with a strong leadership team and a clear path forward, and with this confidence, I have decided to step aside, knowing the company is in capable hands. I wish the team the best as they continue to transform experiences for customers, and I remain a strong supporter of the business,” Binny Bansal said in a statement shared by Flipkart.

Binny Bansal's startup

Earlier this month it was reported that Binny Bansal has floated his new startup, OppDoor, to provide end-to-end solutions to e-commerce firms. According to the website of OppDoor, it is a ‘managed services platform for global expansion’.

The startup focusses on providing ecommerce brands with end-to-end services on global markets, customer behaviour, taxation and compliance, partnerships and third-party vendors.

Exiting Flipkart

Binny Bansal's departure from the board marks the end of the founding entrepreneur’s association with one of the most storied Indian consumer internet startups over the past decade. The IIT-Delhi alumnus Binny Bansal founded Flipkart in 2007 along with Sachin Bansal.

Group CEO at Flipkart Kalyan Krishnamurthy said that he is thankful for Binny's partnership over the past several years as the Flipkart Group has grown and entered new businesses.

‘His insights and deep expertise of the business have been invaluable. Flipkart is the outcome of a great idea and a lot of hard work, built by teams committed to transforming how India shops. We wish Binny the best as he embarks on his next venture and thank him for the deep impact he has enabled for the Indian retail ecosystem,” Krishnamurthy said

Bansal is also in the board of PhonePe that has Walmart as its largest investor. Binny Bansal had sold his stake in Flipkart to Walmart. Few months after Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart in 2018, a probe into serious personal misconduct was set up against Bansal. Following which he stepped down as Flipkart group executive. However, he was cleared of the charges later and Bansal continued to hold position in the board.

Layoffs by Flipkart

Walmart-owned Flipkart is also preparing for a major restructuring, planning to lay off around 1,000 employees, nearly 5% of its workforce.

The Bengaluru-based company, with about 22,000 employees, is undergoing its annual restructuring initiative. Flipkart which has reportedly frozen hiring in the past year has been implementing these performance-based job reductions annually for the past two years.