Synopsis
Lateral moves across categories and divisions are a core part of how the company’s employees move into leadership positions. Three executives tell us how a culture that rewards experimentation over pedigree and the freedom to reinvent are shaping Flipkart’s next leaders.At the same time, the structure of hiring itself is changing. Instead of relying only on external recruitment, companies are increasingly looking inward. A 2025 Talent Trends report by Michael Page found that about 65% of professionals in India are actively exploring new roles, many within their current organisations rather than outside them.²
It is against this backdrop that Flipkart has been building a model centred on cross-functional movement and internal hiring. Rather than treating role changes as exceptions, the company has made them a regular part of career progression.
The tech major told ET that around 12% of its roles in 2025 were filled internally, pointing to a deliberate effort to prioritise internal talent when possible. Employees are encouraged to move across teams and functions, from category management to supply chain or from marketplace roles into fintech, often without prior domain experience.
The mechanics of how these moves happen matter. Kapil Thirani, Vice President, Shopsy and Flipkart Marketplace, says he has never filed a formal application for any of the cross-functional roles he has held. “Opportunities often start with a conversation or a brainstorming session,” he says. “There is a culture of trust where, if you bring a solid idea to the table and leadership likes it, they frequently encourage you to own the resulting project regardless of your current level or category.”
Manjari Singhal, Chief Growth and Business Officer at Cleartrip, pursued her move proactively by connecting with the right people. “The mindset of ‘career ownership’ is encouraged,” she says. “Any individual can raise their hand for a role, provided they have the drive and the skill set to match.”
Across the wider industry, this approach is still evolving. Many large technology and consulting firms continue to rely heavily on lateral hiring. For example, Capgemini revealed that 35-40% of its hiring in India is made up of lateral recruits.³ At the same time, structural shifts in the workforce are pushing companies to rethink prevailing models. Deloitte’s Campus Workforce Trends Report for 2025 highlights how employers are redesigning recruitment strategies to focus more on skills, adaptability, and long-term potential rather than fixed roles.⁴ This has led to greater interest in redeploying existing employees into new positions as business needs change.
Take Sujith Agashe, VP, Electronics, who moved from traditional field sales into e-commerce at Flipkart without prior category experience. He describes it as “a perfect reflection of Flipkart’s culture of taking bold bets and providing opportunities for people to explore and thrive.” What bridged the gap for him was not a structured hand-holding programme but a culture that “embraced experimentation and cross-functional learning.”
Singhal describes a similar learning curve when she stepped into a larger, more complex role at Cleartrip. “The culture here is very supportive. That accessibility and psychological safety to learn through doing make the transition much smoother,” she says. Thirani offers a concrete example: when he took on the Shopsy function without any prior marketing knowledge, Flipkart ensured a strong team of subject-matter experts was already in place. “This setup allowed me to lead using ‘first principles’ while I learned the technical nuances from my team. There’s also a rigorous training and learning process to make sure you aren’t just flying blind,” he underlines.
Critically, such a model works only if failures aren’t treated as full stops. Agashe is candid about having made his share of mistakes. “That’s the beauty of Flipkart’s culture,” he says. “By encouraging us to experiment and iterate quickly, the organisation turns individual setbacks into collective breakthroughs. Try a hundred things, learn from the failures, and scale the ones that become market-changing innovations.”
The trend is also supported by the wider employment outlook. According to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, India ranked among the top countries globally for hiring intent in 2025, even as companies balanced expansion with efficiency.⁵ This combination of cautious growth and demand for skills is pushing organisations towards more flexible strategies.
Flipkart’s overall approach extends to early talent as well. Programmes such as GRiD and WIRED identify candidates from a broader range of colleges and cities, reflecting a wider industry move towards skills-based hiring. But the more pointed question is what happens once they are through the door.
Thirani, who has been at Flipkart for 10 years and sat on numerous evaluation panels, is unequivocal. “The day you walk through the door at Flipkart, the conversation about your college or your background stops. I have never seen a person get a better rating or a higher role because of their educational pedigree. Performance is based on what you actually achieve,” he shares. And Agashe echoes this. “If you have the intent to lead and the ability to innovate, Flipkart provides the scale and the learning opportunities to redefine your career.”
The model does not replace external hiring, but simply shifts the centre of gravity. Singhal, who has held four different roles across her seven years at the company, says what has kept her isn’t the pay but the autonomy. “The company actually lets you experiment. If you want to pivot or try a new challenge, the support is there. That kind of freedom to reinvent yourself is what makes you stay.” Thirani frames it similarly: better-paying offers are always available, he acknowledges, “but what tips the scale for me is the independence and the scale of the impact, working on things that matter at a national level. Those are the kinds of opportunities that are very hard to find elsewhere, no matter the paycheck.”
As India’s tech sector continues to evolve, such models may become more common. For now, Flipkart stands out for the extent to which it has embedded internal mobility into its day-to-day talent strategy, turning what is often mere policy into a core part of how careers are built.
- Xpheno 2026 data on tech hiring slowdown (The Economic Times)
- Michael Page Talent Trends Report India 2025 (Michael Page)
- Capgemini India hiring outlook, 2025 (The Economic Times)
- Deloitte India Campus Workforce Trends Report 2025 (Deloitte)
