Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart has named Seema Nair as its new Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). In her role, Nair will lead the company’s human resources initiatives, working closely with leadership and HR teams to shape and drive people strategies.
“Please join me in welcoming Seema (Nair) to the Flipkart family,” stated Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group, in an internal letter to employees, a copy of which was reviewed by Business Standard. Nair’s appointment follows previous leadership transitions in the HR role. In 2018, Flipkart appointed Smriti Krishna Singh as CHRO, who departed in 2019. Krishna Raghavan then took on the role of Chief People Officer in January 2020, but left the company last year.
Nair’s career spans nearly 30 years, during which she has made impactful contributions across various sectors, including information technology, manufacturing, FMCG, and retail. Before joining Flipkart, she spent over six years with Reliance Industries, where she led group-level HR initiatives as the head of group HR digitisation and head of the group HR office. Nair also played a pivotal role in people development, overseeing learning, talent management, leadership development, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), employer branding, and employee communications for the hydrocarbons division.
Her prior roles include serving as CHRO for India and SAARC at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, where she made significant strides in enhancing sales retention and supply chain productivity. Nair also spent nearly nine years at Cisco Systems, where she served as CHRO for India and SAARC, holding various global and domestic HR roles. Her extensive experience also includes tenures at Intel Corporation, Hughes Software Services, Microland Group, and Crompton Greaves.
Nair holds an MBA with a specialization in human resources from XLRI Jamshedpur and is actively involved in the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, contributing to both the D&I and MSME committees. She is a strong advocate of the belief that the foundation of a successful organization lies in its people, leadership, and culture, in addition to a solid business strategy.
As Flipkart’s new CHRO, Nair will be managing a team that includes Prajakta Kanaglekar, Aakriti Chandra, Varadharaju Janardhanan, Richa Verma, Sundar Vadivel, and Sudipta Das, as noted by Krishnamurthy.
. In her role, Nair will lead the company's human resources initiatives, working closely with leadership and HR teams to shape and drive people strategies.){kind=link}