WalMart appoints Murali Lanka as chief operating officer of India business

WalMart Stores Inc is appointing Murali Lanka, an executive at its US business, chief operations officer of its Indian unit, according to two company officials familiar with the matter.

Lanka will lead store operations, sales, business development and marketing, and report to India Chief Executive Officer Krish Iyer, said the people, who asked not to be named as they aren't authorised to comment on the matter.

The move marks a return to India for Lanka, who had been part of the founding team at WalMart's joint venture with billionaire Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprises Pvt Ltd before it broke up last year, a blow to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer's expansion plans in the world's second-most populous nation. WalMart recently started expanding in India again after stalling for almost two years.

Rajneesh Kumar, vice president for corporate affairs at Wal-Mart India, didn't immediately reply to an e-mail seeking comment and a call to CEO Krish Iyer's office outside working hours wasn't answered. Today is a public holiday in India due to Diwali, the biggest festival of the year for Hindus.

New Stores
Iyer told employees in a speech and e-mail to announce Lanka's return that his own priority is to aggressively focus on tapping real estate for new stores and ramping up the Indian unit's nascent e-commerce platform, one of the people said.

Wal-Mart operates 20 wholesale stores in India, where only registered traders can shop. The retailer said last month it will roll out an e-commerce system nationwide by January, and yesterday announced plans to add its first new store in more than two years in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal.

Lanka takes over the role vacated by Arvind Mediratta, who was transferred to the company's U.S. headquarters, people familiar with the matter said in August.