Walmart Indian venture Flipkart loses CEO after misconduct probe

[November 13, 2018]  (Reuters) - The Chief Executive and co-founder of Walmart's Indian venture Flipkart Group, Binny Bansal, has resigned following a probe into serious personal misconduct, Walmart Inc <WMT.N> said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Bansal has strongly denied the allegations, the company said in a statement. Bansal and his representatives could not be reached for comment.

"While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation," the company said.

"Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign."

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who heads the company's main Flipkart e-commerce operation, would now act as chief executive for a broader group of businesses including apparel websites Myntra and Jabong, the company said.

Walmart earlier this year agree to pay $16 billion for a roughly 77 percent stake in the Indian e-commerce firm, Amazon's main rival for India's 1.3 billion consumers.

It was the U.S. retailer's largest-ever deal and a major move in its efforts to oppose Amazon at home and abroad.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.