#MeToo: Flipkart founder’s exit troubles corporate India
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS INDIAN COMPANIES’ LACK OF POLICIES ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The surprise resignation of an Indian tech billionaire has pulled corporate India deeper into the #MeToo firestorm that’s been sweeping through the American business community for more than a year.
Walmart Inc. announced on Tuesday that Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal was leaving the company, after an independent probe into allegations of sexual assault. While Bansal denies any wrongdoing and the investigators didn’t find evidence of assault, the process revealed “lapses in judgement” that troubled the parent company’s leadership.
By buying Flipkart, Walmart made Bansal a billionaire and a national icon. By forcing his resignation, the company turned him into an example of the kind of zero-tolerance corporate policy that’s come to be expected in the US, where the #MeToo movement has brought consequences for dozens of CEOs and senior leaders in business and finance.
Many have been fired, resigned or otherwise sidelined. American companies have been called on to articulate and strengthen their sexual harassment policies. Investors have begun to consider sexual harassment risk when allocating capital.
Globe-spanning differences
India’s own #MeToo movement exploded this fall, and it’s still gathering momentum. A handful of prominent men in entertainment and in government — including a union minister, M.J. Akbar — have faced professional consequences. But corporate leaders have remained largely untouched.
Walmart’s dismissal of Bansal is significant, said Zoe Kinias, a Singapore-based professor at INSEAD business school, because it sends a clear signal to ■ the country’s top executives: “There are consequences for these sorts of actions.”
Many Flipkart employees and other observers found Walmart’s action confusing. Bansal denied any sexual assault, and the company’s internal investigation agreed. But the executives in Bentonville thought the angry accuser represented a business risk, and they wanted to know why Bansal hadn’t disclosed it. At Flipkart, that information would have been considered personal.
A former Flipkart employee contacted Walmart executives in late July and accused Bansal of sexual assault, according to sources who requested anonymity. Investigators concluded Bansal and the woman had a consensual affair, they said.
Walmart completed its $16 billion (Dh58 billion) purchase of a majority stake in the Indian e-retailer in August, a transaction that lifted Bansal’s net worth to $1 billion. “While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgement, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation,” Walmart said in a statement.
So far, Walmart has avoided public accusations of sexist behaviour in senior leadership, though store workers have alleged harassment by line managers for years. But with few women in senior leadership and its treatment of rank-andfile workers, Walmart has been a constant target of criticism.