There may have been bumper big billon day sales and talks of a massive Walmart investment, but Flipkart‘s ability to retain senior level talent continues to remain questioned. In a fresh instance which could further raise a question or two, Flipkart‘s CFO Sanjay Baweja has resigned from the company.
The news, which came via media reports, was later confirmed by a company spokesperson.
Baweja, who was formely the CFO at Tata Communications, had joined Flipkart in November 2014. He had a long, two year stint here, before submitting his papers. Prior to Tata Communications, Sanjay Baweja served as the CFO for one of India’s largest real estate players, Emaar MGF Land Pvt. ltd.
Baweja’s exit follows that of Flipkart’s legal head Rajinder Sharma, who quit in July , just 10 months after joining the firm.
There’s no specific reason being highlighted behind Baweja’s sudden exit. However, considering that he was intensively involved in Flipkart’s financial initiatives — including fund-raising — one could assume that the company’s inability to raise fresh capital could have forced this exit. There has been no comment form either him or Flipkart on the specifics.
For India’s largest ecommerce firm, this will be yet another exit, just ten months after company’t legal head Rajinder Sharma had called it quits. At the time when Sharma had quit, it was the fourth senior management exit for the $15Bn+ valued company in a span of just five months.
Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart in one of the biggest acquisition deals in the history of Indian startups, saw its founder Mukesh Bansal leaving the company to start a fresh entrepreneurial venture. This was then followed by the exit of one of the most talked about appointments in Indian ecosystem — former Googler Punit Soni. Soni’s tenure didn’t even achieve a one year milestone.
Baweja’s exit comes at a crucial time. There have been solid evidence and reports that Flipkart is looking to set up offline stores. Now an initiative like that would require a solid, full-time CFO in order for it to be executed with perfection. While there’s no immediate contender for the now vacant post, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, head of category management and MD at Tiger Global Management (Flipkart’s largest shareholder), may serve as interim CFO, said people familiar with the development.
