A townhall meeting called hastily this morning at Walmart India’s Gurgaon office was all it took to announce a leadership change at the company. Walmart Asia President & CEO Scott Price, who otherwise sits in the Hong Kong office, had called the meeting to inform India staff that country head Raj Jain “is no longer with the company”.
A statement issued soon after said quite the same, without elaborating on Jain’s exit or his next stop. However, it named Senior Vice-President Ramnik Narsey, who joined Walmart last month after quitting as India chairman & CEO of Australia-based Woolworths, as the interim India leader to replace Jain “with immediate effect”.
There was talk, in hushed tones, of more exits and changes in the organisation as part of a clean-up act. But people in the know said there wouldn’t be any change so far as Walmart’s India commitment went. In fact, reacting to the development, Future Group Founder & CEO Kishore Biyani said: “It (Walmart) is a large organisation. Issues like these happen at such large firms.”
Many reasons to explain Jain’s departure had started floating since morning, though all were off the record. However, from what a company executive told Business Standard, it was clear the parting was “not amicable”.
Price, who had come to India earlier this week, had yesterday presided over a quarterly business review, which, it is learnt, was not attended by Jain. A source said, Jain had not been heard saying “bye” when leaving office on Monday evening, perhaps for the last time. Narsey is believed to have moved into Jain’s fourth-floor cabin yesterday, hours before the townhall announcement.
The world’s largest retail chain has lately been in the middle of several controversies, including an internal investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), or anti-bribery laws, across markets like Mexico, India, Brazil and China.
As a fallout of that probe, Bharti-Walmart CFO Pankaj Madan, besides four others from the legal team, had been sent on leave. A source said the investigation might have been completed now, and many more heads might roll as part of a clean-up act. This information could not be independently verified.
A statement issued soon after said quite the same, without elaborating on Jain’s exit or his next stop. However, it named Senior Vice-President Ramnik Narsey, who joined Walmart last month after quitting as India chairman & CEO of Australia-based Woolworths, as the interim India leader to replace Jain “with immediate effect”.There was talk, in hushed tones, of more exits and changes in the organisation as part of a clean-up act. But people in the know said there wouldn’t be any change so far as Walmart’s India commitment went. In fact, reacting to the development, Future Group Founder & CEO Kishore Biyani said: “It (Walmart) is a large organisation. Issues like these happen at such large firms.”
Many reasons to explain Jain’s departure had started floating since morning, though all were off the record. However, from what a company executive told Business Standard, it was clear the parting was “not amicable”.
Price, who had come to India earlier this week, had yesterday presided over a quarterly business review, which, it is learnt, was not attended by Jain. A source said, Jain had not been heard saying “bye” when leaving office on Monday evening, perhaps for the last time. Narsey is believed to have moved into Jain’s fourth-floor cabin yesterday, hours before the townhall announcement.
The world’s largest retail chain has lately been in the middle of several controversies, including an internal investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), or anti-bribery laws, across markets like Mexico, India, Brazil and China.
As a fallout of that probe, Bharti-Walmart CFO Pankaj Madan, besides four others from the legal team, had been sent on leave. A source said the investigation might have been completed now, and many more heads might roll as part of a clean-up act. This information could not be independently verified.
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