e-commerce
Snapdeal’s top Silicon valley talent Anand Chandrasekaran quits as CPO
MUMBAI: The eCommerce industry has seen some major tectonic shifts — Snapdeal engineering vp Bhuvan Gupta, Flipkart’s Sharat Singh, Flipkart’s product office Punit Soni, Flipakart’s Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagor; and now, most recently, Snapdeal’s Chief Product officer Anand Chandrasekaran.
Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal confirmed the news with his tweet on Tuesday that read, “@anandc proud of the super work by you and the product team. Hard to believe that this was just 1 yr. Farewell, keep rocking!”
Chandrasekaran soon replied back tweeting, “@rohitkbansal thanks for the support. We did in 1 what would take 3 years anywhere.”
While Chandrasekaran refrained from making any official comments on his future endeavors, word has it that he is looking to start his own business.
A former Yahoo executive, Chandrasekaran joined Snapdeal last June to integrate more services, like Uber, into the company’s flagship app, a model similar to China’s popular WeChat. This high profile Silicon Valley recruit quit the Indian startup within a year, adding to the increasingly long list of top hires from the valley by the Indian Unicorns who are moving on to start their own businesses. As per a leading daily the industry has witnessed close to 17 major movements between Flipkart, Snapdeal, Ola, Zomato and Paytm to launch their own startups.
When asked to comment on it, Snapdeal’s spokesperson further shared, “Anand has done some stellar work on the product side at Snapdeal. His insights and attention to detail have helped us traverse quickly towards launching and improving products at Snapdeal. We wish Anand the very best for his entrepreneurial journey ahead.” Snapdeal didn’t confirm any possible appointments to fill Chandrasekaran’s shoes any time soon.
MUMBAI: From flights to tracks, Cleartrip is now trying to keep every journey on the same ticket. Cleartrip, part of Flipkart, has launched train ticket bookings through a partnership with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, marking its entry into India’s vast rail travel ecosystem.
The integration allows users to search, book and manage train journeys directly within the app, as the company pushes towards becoming a unified, multi-modal travel platform. The move plugs Cleartrip into one of the world’s largest transportation networks, where over 800 million reserved passengers travel annually, alongside a daily footfall of around 23 million across Indian Railways.
The offering includes bookings across routes nationwide, covering General and Tatkal quotas as per Ministry of Railways guidelines. Users can also access real-time seat availability, fare insights, PNR status tracking, berth preferences and digital payment options within a single interface.
The expansion reflects a broader shift in travel platforms from specialising in a single mode to stitching together end-to-end journeys. For Cleartrip, the bet is not just on scale, but on simplifying a system often seen as complex and fragmented.
Company executives said the focus is on embedding predictive intelligence and personalisation into the booking journey, aiming to make everything from discovery to post-booking support faster and more intuitive.
The train booking feature is currently live on the app, with plans to extend it to the web platform soon, signalling a push towards a seamless cross-platform experience.
In a country where railways move billions each year, the next battleground for travel apps may well be decided not in the skies, but on the tracks.
