Sachin Bansal’s brand Billion now part of Flipkart's private label brands after founder exit

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jun 28, 2018

Billion, the brand created by Sachin Bansal last year, has now been subsumed as one of Flipkart’s eight private label brands after Bansal left the company in May ahead of the Walmart acquisition.

The brand Billion was previously run as an independent unit by Sachin Bansal as a personal project under the Flipkart umbrella. After Bansal decided to leave the company he co-founded over disputes regarding the business’ acquisition by Walmart, the business has now decided to make Billion one of Flipkart’s private label brands.

The 50 employee strong Billion team have now been reorganised and made part of Flipkart’s private label business by Flipkart’s current Chief Executive Officer, Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Flipkart’s eight private label brands are now being overseen by Adarsh Menon, a Flipkart Executive.

“The space that Billion has very successfully created and occupied for Indian consumers is the space of Make in India and Made in India,” said Menon in a recent interview with Mint. “What Billion will continue to do is identifying very India-specific customer requirements, and then working with our ecosystem partners to deliver that to Indian consumers.”

Sachin Bansal, one of Flipkart’s co-founders, started building up the Billion brand in June 2017 as a budget brand where products are all made in India. As a personal project for Bansal, the brand developed accessories including backpacks, electronics, homeware, and it even launched a value smartphone in November 2017. It appears that the brand will continue with a similar product range as it becomes a Flipkart private label.