Gurugram, March 25: Walmart India has promoted Sameer Aggarwal to the position of Chief Executive Officer for its Best Price wholesale stores from April 1. He will report directly to Dirk Van den Berghe, Executive Vice President and Regional CEO of Asia and Global Sourcing. Aggarwal is taking over the CEO position from Krish Iyer who is retiring from full-time management and will assume the role of an advisor to Best Price after eight years with the company.

Aggarwal joined Walmart India in April 2018 as Executive Vice President overseeing strategy and administration and was promoted to Deputy CEO in January 2020. In January, Walmart laid off 56 associates across levels at the India corporate office while looking for ways to operate more efficiently in an underserved market. Layoffs in India: Walmart Fires More Than 100 Top Executives, More Job Cuts to be Announced Later This Year.

The world's largest retailer operates 28 wholesale stores in India where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers. The global retailer is also eyeing India's burgeoning e-commerce sector. In 2018, it paid 16 billion dollars to buy a majority stake in India's online marketplace Flipkart in its biggest global acquisition.