How IIT-alumnus Sachin Bansal built Flipkart into a big online brand

Entrepreneur of the Year: Sachin Bansal, Flipkart
The award seeks to recognise the ability of a business leader to enter the big league and take on the best in the world
It has taken Sachin Bansal, 32, a mere six years to build Flipkart, the country's best-known online retail brand. In awarding him the Entrepreneur of The Year award, the jury recognised Bansal's acumen by saying he has "out-innovated everyone else" in the sector.


The IIT-Delhi alumnus started off with college friend Binny Bansal in a small flat in southeast Bangalore in 2007 with Rs 4 lakh.

The two, who are not related to each other, had worked in Amazon India for a few months before they launched Flipkart.
Sachin, who leads the Bangalore-based ecommerce venture as its chief executive officer, has battled scepticism and regulatory constraints to build a company that expects to post sales of $1 billion, or over Rs 6,200 crore, by 2015.
"This award is an honour and an important milestone that validates our beliefs," he said. "Many people have been sceptical of our strategy. But now, not just our investors and customers, even the business community and the press are recognising us," he added.
In July, the company received Rs1,200 crore in funding from South African Internet company Naspers, venture fund Accel Partners, investment firm Tiger Global and San Francisco-based multi-family office ICONIQ Capital. The deal cemented Flipkart's position as the best-capitalised company in the Indian ecommerce industry. It has raised around Rs3,000 crore of risk capital, the most by an Indian ecommerce firm.
The year 2010 was when Flipkart pulled ahead of the pack. The company, which had become the leader in online retail of books by then, diversi fied into digital movies, music and games as well as electronics.
It raised money from international fund Tiger Global, which joined existing investor Accel Partners to become the primary backers of Flipkart. The company registered sales of Rs5 crore in 2008-09, Rs20 crore in 2009-10 and reached the milestone of Rs100 crore the following year.
Flipkart's cash-on-delivery model has been copied by almost every other ecommerce company in the country and now accounts for a majority of transactions across all online retail sites.
Flipkart's success has come not just from online retail, but also from its focus on building technology services at the back end. It has set up a logistics arm that has ensured quick deliveries to customers.
Flipkart Payment Gateway Services, which launched an online payments solutions gateway PayZippy for merchants earlier this year, will soon be available end-customers.

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