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Former CEO Sachin Bansal will take the role of Executive Chairman and will remain Chairman of the Board

Executive Chairman Sachin Bansal (Left) and CEO Binny Bansal (Right)

In a major executive overhaul, Co-founder Sachin Bansal has stepped down as CEO of India’s largest home-grown e-commerce company Flipkart, it announced in a blog post today. Fellow Co-founder and COO Binny Bansal will now take the top post at the Bangalore-based firm.

According to the blog post, Sachin will take the role of Executive Chairman and will “mentor the senior leadership of the company and look for new investment opportunities. He will play an active role in championing the Indian e-commerce sector and building the Internet ecosystem, and represent the company in external forums.”

Sachin will remain as Chairman of the Flipkart Board, according to the blog post.

The development comes close on the heels of an The Economic Times report that said Flipkart is in talks to raise a US$1.4 billion funding round to be led by US-based investment firm Sands Capital Management. Flipkart is the most heavily-funded e-commerce firm in India.

Also Read: Infographic: Amazon ruled India in 2015; no, Flipkart didn’t come second

Binny will be in charge of operations and responsible for overall performance of the online retailer, which is valued at over US$15 billion.

“The journey ahead is equally exciting and challenging. Flipkart has all the necessary ingredients of brilliant talent and great technology to win this next phase as well,” Binny Bansal said in the statement.

All three sectors of the business (commerce, ekart and Myntra), as well as the human resources, finance, legal, corporate communications and corporate development departments of the company will now report to Binny.

On Twitter, Sachin Bansal welcomed Binny Bansal as new CEO.

Welcome @binnybansal as the CEO of @Flipkart. Together we’ll create magic. https://t.co/VZSdJGqEZ9

— Sachin Bansal (@_sachinbansal) January 11, 2016

Myntra Chairman Mukesh Bansal (who is also Flipkart Head of Commerce Platform) will have additional responsibilities within the Flipkart advertising department. Flipkart considers commerce platform to be its core business.

Myntra is an online fashion portal which was acquired by Flipkart for nearly US$300 million in May 2014. Mukesh Bansal remains in charge of that operation.

Sachin, Binny and Mukesh are not related to each other.

Also Read: Flipkart buys minority stake in GPS navigation firm MapmyIndia

Flipkart is currently the market leader of the Indian e-commerce sector, but it faces fierce and persistent competition from Amazon India and Snapdeal.

The post Flipkart names Binny Bansal new CEO amid US$1.4B fundraising talks appeared first on e27.

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