Reliance Retail appoints ex-Flipkart executive as its new CEO
What's the story
Reliance Industries has appointed Jeyandran Venugopal, a former Flipkart executive, as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL). The appointment comes as part of a strategic move to bolster the retail business under Mukesh Ambani's leadership. Venugopal will work closely with Isha Ambani and other members of Reliance Retail's leadership team to enhance the retail portfolio and drive operational excellence across the value chain.
Career journey
Venugopal's extensive experience in e-commerce and technology
Venugopal, who joined Reliance Retail from Flipkart, has over 25 years of experience in retail, e-commerce, technology, and business transformation. At Flipkart, he was instrumental in leading the cross-functional teams across product engineering, design, data science, IT security, and infrastructure. He also drove central revenue customer growth and retention marketing monetization initiatives as well as externalization and commerce cloud business at the company.
Past positions
Previous roles and educational background
Before Flipkart, Venugopal served as the CPTO at Myntra and Jabong where he led product engineering and data functions through rapid scale and improving profitability. He has also held senior leadership roles at Yahoo and Amazon Web Services contributing to building global technology and commerce platforms. Venugopal holds dual Master's degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering Guindy.
Expansion strategy
Reliance Retail's growth and future plans
Despite facing competition from Amazon, Flipkart, and quick commerce entities like Swiggy Instamart and Blinkit, Reliance Retail has been focusing on e-commerce. The company is also preparing for a public listing expected in 2027 or 2028. RRVL operates an integrated omnichannel network of 19,821 stores across sectors including grocery, consumer electronics, fashion, lifestyle, as well as pharma.