Amazon's looming presence on the periphery in Indian e-commerce at the beginning of 2017 fueled skepticism over the fate of retailer Flipkart, but CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has led a comeback for the company that appears to leave Amazon on the outside looking in, according to The Seattle Times.
After shaking up his leadership structure and setting aggressive sales targets, Mr. Krishnamurthy has accepted a $16 billion investment from Walmart to help Flipkart establish an advantage over competitors in India's burgeoning e-commerce market.
"His relentless focus and his aggressive execution changed Flipkart’s fortunes," Anil Kumar, CEO of RedSeer Consulting, told The Seattle Times. "He brought the edge that Flipkart was missing."
Amazon invested over $5 billion in the Indian market, but Mr. Krishnamurthy has attempted to leverage his intimate knowledge of the customer base to create an experience better tailored to the needs of the market.
The Walmart investment not only gives Flipkart the capital it requires to be a market leader, but helps Walmart shore up flagging international operations.