 "Flipkart on path to profitability, IPO a little away: ex-CFO Sanjay Baweja")
Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce firm, has seen several exits at leadership level with the latest being its chief financial officer Sanjay Baweja. Over the past one-and-a-half years, the online marketplace has undergone a structural shift in the way it is doing business — rationalising costs, discounts, improved customer service and focus on profits. “Profits may not come in the next six months but we definitely are on that path. That is very clear,” says Baweja in an interview with Alnoor Peermohamed:
What makes you leave Flipkart?
In the past two years, I have been able to build a top notch team of finance professionals across the board, whether it’s business finance, business tax or revenue assurance. It’s been great fun working here. But when another opportunity came where I thought I would be doing something very different, I took it up.
What were some of the challenges you faced at Flipkart?
Because of the growth which happened at Flipkart, even before I joined, the processes were not keeping pace. The challenge was to build processes which were scalable with time and volume, and I think we have been successful in achieving that. The way we worked out the corporate governance mechanism was a great job. We simplified the structure, created e-kart, and all that. These were all good things that we did and they were challenging. The most recent one would be the acquisition of Jabong. A lot of these things have happened where we made big changes in the way we operated. We’ve transformed the company from one with very less processes to one which is process heavy, where everything gets taken care of.
Will this be the end of your corporate career?
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No. It won’t be an end. I still have many years ahead of me.
Was Flipkart’s elusive IPO one of the reasons you are stepping down?
I don’t think that’s the reason. I think what’s more important is where I have brought the company and put it in such robust hands in terms of creating a clear roadmap of where we are and where we want to be. Yes, Flipkart’s IPO is some distance away now, and I thought the opportunity I got is different, so I bought into that.
Will e-commerce companies stop burning money and become profitable soon?
As far as Flipkart is concerned, I think there has been sufficient movement towards the profitability scenario. As people get more and more comfortable with the convenience that e-commerce offers, the scale, the diversity and more customers come into the fold, the business structure is such that we will see profitability. It may not be in the next six months but we definitely are on that path. That is very clear.