Walmart's Flipkart appoints former Reliance executive Seema Nair as CHRO

Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart has appointed Seema Nair as chief human resources officer (CHRO). In this role, she will oversee human resources for Flipkart, partnering closely with respective leaders and HR teams.

“Please join me in welcoming Seema (Nair) to the Flipkart family,” said Flipkart Group chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy in an internal letter addressed to the employees, a copy of which Business Standard has seen.

In 2018, Flipkart had appointed Smriti Krishna Singh as CHRO, and she quit in 2019. Later, this role was fulfilled by Krishna Raghavan, who was elevated to chief people officer in January 2020. Raghavan left the company last year.

In a career spanning close to three decades, Nair has made substantial contributions to multiple industries, including information technology, manufacturing, FMCG, and retail.

Prior to Flipkart, Nair worked with Reliance Industries for over six years, managing group-level assignments as head of group HR digitisation and head of group HR office. Earlier, she was the head of the people development group, leading learning and development, talent and leadership, DE&I, employer branding, and employee communications for the hydrocarbons and allied businesses.

Nair has previously worked with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages as CHRO for India and SAARC, where she contributed significantly to sales retention and supply chain productivity.

In a tenure spanning almost nine years at Cisco Systems, she was the CHRO for India and SAARC, prior to which she played a variety of domestic and global HR roles. Nair’s earlier career experiences include stints at Intel Corporation, Hughes Software Services, Microland Group, and Crompton Greaves. She has an MBA specialising in human resources from XLRI Jamshedpur. Nair is a member of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, with strong contributions to both the D&I and MSME committees.

In addition to sound business strategy, she believes that people, leadership, and culture are the building blocks that truly define an organisation's success.

“With Seema's appointment, Prajakta Kanaglekar, Aakriti Chandra, Varadharaju Janardhanan, Richa Verma, Sundar Vadivel, and Sudipta Das will start reporting to her,” said Krishnamurthy.