Flipkart CEO quits amid misconduct probe

MUMBAI, Nov 14 (AFP): The chief executive and co-founder of Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart, majority owned by US group Walmart, quit on Tuesday following an investigation into "serious personal misconduct".

A joint statement from the two companies said that Binny Bansal denied the unspecified allegations and that the independent probe "did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions".

"(But) it did reveal other lapses in judgement, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation," the statement said.

"Binny has been an important part of Flipkart since co-founding the company, but recent events risked becoming a distraction and Binny has made a decision to step down," it said.

A Flipkart spokesperson declined to comment on the nature of the personal misconduct.

Flipkart, India's biggest e-commerce platform by sales, was purchased by Walmart for $16 billion in May in a bid to outpace its rival Amazon.

Following the 77-percent stake purchase, Flipkart's co-founder Sachin Bansal, not related to Binny, left the company after selling his stake.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has committed $5 billion to grabbing a big slice of India's e-commerce pie after failing to make inroads in China.