Flipkart to have four officials from Walmart to help run operations

Flipkart will soon have four global executives from Walmart running the show along with CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Group CEO Binny Bansal told the company’s employees that the head of M&A at Walmart, Emily McNeal, would be in India as SVP and Chief Financial Officer of the group.

Walmart will bring in all its audit and compliance processes to Flipkart so that the working DNA of Flipkart and Walmart merge to ensure smooth functioning. Walmart has appointed Daniel De La Garza, who will join Flipkart as vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer. Grant Coad will take over the position of general counsel, and Dawn Ptak will be the group controller and VP.

Sources say the four officials will join Flipkart by October. Emily, Daniel, Grant and Dawn will focus on group strategy, mergers and acquisitions, preparation for an IPO, accounting and controls, and US GAAP. This could mean more acquisitions, and Flipkart could scout for technology companies in India and abroad.

Daniel was earlier with Walmart in Central America as the ethics officer, while Grant was in Walmart Canada and was its regulatory officer. Dawn has worked in China for a while.

Walmart completed its $16 billion investment in Flipkart recently, and Emily, along with CEO Doug McMillon was key in the acquisition discussions.

Walmart paid Rs 7,439.40 crore in tax to the Indian government, which was collected as major shareholders Softbank, Accel Partners and Naspers exited the company. According to a recent PTI report, the tax withheld has only been for share purchases of 10 major shareholders of Flipkart, and not from the remaining 34 shareholders.

The deal, though, has been opposed by several Indian trade bodies. The Confederation of All India Traders, which represents 70 million small businesses, had filed a petition last month in National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the Competition Commission of India's decision to approve Walmart-Flipkart deal.