CEO of Walmart's India Venture Resign After Sexual Assault Charges: Source | Technology News

By Nandita Bose and Aditya Kalra

(Reuters) – The head of Walmart Inc's

Indian venture Flipkart Group, Binny Bansal, has resigned following an internal probe into "serious personal misconduct," Walmart said on Tuesday.

The departure of Bansal, 37, one of India's new generation of young, tech-savvy billionaires, is a setback for Walmart's efforts to compete with Amazon.com

in India's huge consumer market.

In a letter to Flipkart employees, which was seen by Reuters, Bansal did not give details of the nature of the accusations, but said it strongly that they were uncorroborated after an investigation completed by an independent law firm.

"The allegations left me stunned," said Bansal, who was chief executive of the Flipkart Group last January.

"The investigation, however, did not go unnoticed, particularly with lack of transparency, related to how I responded to the situation," he said.

Neither Bansal Flipkart did not respond to requests for comment.

Walmart said in a report that the investigation has been made to support the accusations against Bansal. It did not say what the accusations were.

"While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions against Binny, it was revealing other lapses in judgment, particularly with lack of transparency, related to how" Binny responded to the situation. " Walmart said. "Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign."

One person familiar with the subject said that "in late July, between (the) time of announcement (of Walmart's purchase of Flipkart) and closure an allegation came to.

"The investigation could not corroborate the allegation," But it did reveal a lack of transparency on Binny's part, the person said.

The alleged incident happened a few years ago and the accusation was made by a former associate, who was not with Flipkart at the time, the person added.

Walmart paid $ 16 billion for roughly 77-percent stake in Flipkart in May. The investment is the U.S. retailer's largest-ever acquisition and has a major move in its efforts to oppose Amazon at home and abroad, where it has been struggling.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who heads the company's main Flipkart e-commerce operation, Myntra and Jabong, said Walmart said

Walmart has said that it can float.

Walmart said Binny Bansal had been contemplating a transition for some time that had been working together on a succession plan, which had been accelerated.

Ananth Narayanan, who is the CEO of Myntra and Jabong, will continue in Krishnamurthy.

Flipkart began as an online bookstore and sells consumer goods ranging from soaps to smartphones and clothes. It is the largest player in an Indian e-commerce market that could be worth $ 200 billion within a decade.

Its divisions include Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and PhonePe payments app.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in New York and Aditya Kalra in Delhi, by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Siddharth Cavale and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Sankalp Phartiyal in Mumbai, Editing by Patrick Graham and Frances Kerry)

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