The Man Who Flipped Flipkart

Walmart made an historic investment after the Indian online retailer’s CEO reset his company’s strategy

- Saritha Rai, with Shelly Banjo

At the beginning of 2017, the outlook for web retailer Flipkart Online Services Pvt. was decidedly gloomy. Although heralded as India’s most successful startup, the private company saw its valuation dropping, and it was getting harder to raise money from investors. Amazon.com Inc. was pledging to spend $5 billion-plus to grab market share in India, and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was coveting the same space. When Kalyan Krishnamurthy became chief executive officer of Flipkart in January of that year, many observers said 2017 would be make or break for both him and the company.

The 46-year-old former director of finance at a hedge fund took some risks. He fired senior managers, set more aggressive sales targets, boosted spending on promotions, and promised to dominate India’s festival season shopping.

The strategy worked, with an historic return on those risks: On May 9, Walmart Inc. made a $16 billion initial investment in Flipkart, the biggest ever by a foreign buyer in India. The deal helps cement Flipkart’s lead against Amazon and Alibaba in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Online shopping in India is projected by Morgan Stanley to reach $200 billion within the next decade, compared with $30 billion now. “His relentless focus and his aggressive execution changed Flipkart’s fortunes,” says Anil Kumar, CEO of RedSeer Management Consulting Pvt. in Bengaluru. “He brought the edge that Flipkart was missing.”