Jeyandran Venugopal Takes Charge as Reliance Retail CEO After Internal Restructuring

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd has appointed Jeyandran Venugopal, former Chief Product and Technology Officer at Flipkart, as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, marking the first time in over a decade that India’s largest retailer has hired an external leader for the top role. The move, confirmed on Wednesday, follows a sweeping internal restructuring that has streamlined the company’s structure ahead of a much-anticipated public listing targeted for 2027 or 2028 at a valuation of around $100 billion.

Venugopal, who brings 25 years of experience in retail technology and e-commerce, will report to Executive Director Isha Ambani and work closely with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and long-time aide Manoj Modi. At Flipkart, he led product, engineering, design, data science, and infrastructure teams; earlier, he served as CPTO at Myntra and held senior roles at Amazon Web Services and Yahoo. His mandate includes accelerating Reliance Retail’s omnichannel transformation, expanding digital commerce, and strengthening the company’s portfolio of more than 18,000 stores and fast-growing FMCG brands such as Campa Cola and Independence.

The appointment comes a day after Reliance completed a major corporate rejig under which its consumer brands business was transferred on a going-concern basis to a new entity, New Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (New RCPL), which is now a direct 83.56%-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. The restructuring simplifies the holding structure, removes intermediate layers, and positions both the core retail chain and the FMCG vertical for independent growth and eventual capital-market access.

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Reliance Retail, which posted a consolidated turnover of ₹3.30 lakh crore and EBITDA of ₹25,053 crore for FY25, has been aggressively expanding its new-commerce model that connects kirana stores with digital supply chains while rapidly scaling private labels. Analysts view the external CEO hire as a signal that the group is bringing in specialised digital and technology leadership to compete more aggressively with Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, and quick-commerce players such as Blinkit and Zepto.

With gross revenue from the FMCG arm already touching ₹9,850 crore in the first half of FY26, the group is aiming to create two distinct listed entities—one focused on organised retail and new commerce, the other on consumer brands—mirroring the successful demerger and listing strategy used for Jio and Reliance Retail’s earlier ventures.

Industry watchers say Venugopal’s appointment and the restructuring are the clearest indications yet that Reliance is preparing both businesses for separate IPOs, with the core retail entity likely to hit the market first at a valuation that could make it one of India’s largest listed retailers.

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