Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy may get company's board seat

Flipkart Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kalyan Krishnamurthy has emerged as one of the influential business leaders in recent times. He has been leading Flipkart since January 2017, almost a year and a half before Walmart officially announced its acquisition. 

Post-acquisition, Walmart continued to believe in Krishnamurthy’s leadership, and he continued to be at the helm.

Acknowledging his contribution towards the company, Flipkart may amend its constitution to enable a board seat for Krishnamurthy. Currently, Flipkart board has eleven members, including three representatives from Walmart and four independent directors.

Quoting anonymous analysts tracking Flipkart, a BusinessLine report outlined the possibility of changes in the senior management team reporting to Krishnamurthy.

Moreover, expanding its board, Flipkart has also appointed two new independent directors. Steuart Lawrence Walto (Walmart), Lee Fixel (former Tiger Global), Binny Bansal (Flipkart’s co-founder) and James Gordon Mitchell (Tencent) include the list of company’s board representation.

If the company decides to elevate Krishnamurthy on its board, he would be one of the rare chief executives to have a board seat in large consumer Internet firm. It could also be a rewarding gesture from Flipkart for his outstanding contribution to the company. 

Krishnamurthy had joined Flipkart as Category Design Organization in June 2016 when the company lost leadership position to Amazon in key categories, including smartphones. Under his leadership, the company reclaimed the top spot in 2017. He got a more significant role as Group CEO in November last year when Binny Bansal had to resign from the post owing to serious personal misconduct.