In what can be seen as a win for Alibaba and another loss for Flipkart, Director of Human Resources, Priya Cherian has made a switch from the latter to the former. She will head the HR department and be responsible for talent acquisition for the Chinese e-commerce behemoth set to expand its operation in India.
Just after a year long stint at India’s largest e-commerce company(now debatable!?), Cherian has quit in favor of joining the Chinese giant, report sources close to the development. She will now be co-ordinating with global managing director K Guru Gowrappan, who is heading the Indian expansion, to add valuable manpower to the country’s operations.
Prior to joining Flipkart, Priya has spent a good seven years working as the HR Director for once largest tech giant– Yahoo. She also spent around a year working with startup WorkflowOne, after her time at Reynolds and Reynolds. Her glowing resume and outstanding reviews may have peaked the interest of the Chinese multinational giant.
Alibaba has recently also roped in former Chief business officer of LocalOye, Bharati Balakrishnan for its India team. Being the first senior level hire, she is expected to work with Soumitra Sharma, Director of global strategies to make an initial plan to kickstart operations in the country.
We’ve received multiple reports confirming the Chinese e-commerce behemoth’s entry into India early next year. While the company’s homeground China is facing a slowdown, the company is looking to bank upon the opportunity to enter the attractive Indian market. It has also met with several government official to talk about a grand entry into the country.
After securing $3 million in loan, Alibaba, the key backer of digital payment platform Paytm, is looking raise another $300-400 million for Paytm’s marketplace business and spinoff the same to organically expand its reach in the country. And recent reports also suggest that Alibaba is eyeing to acquire ShopClues.com and merge it with Paytm’s marketplace business to build a sturdy base for itself.
Alibaba is currently looking to acquire several startups relevant to its business. The idea behind this being the creation of a strong entity that can compete against the likes of Amazon India and Flipkart since inception.
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