It is natural to see the top brass of a company shares their stories of laurels they received for their outstanding work. And very rare to see the same people speak out about the reasons for their demotion or removal from the company, especially when it happens because of their performance at work. But Flipkart's co-founder did just that. To reassure Flipkart employees that everyone is judged by the same standards, co-founder Sachin Bansal revealed to them that he was removed as CEO because of "performance" issues. Bansal's disclosure, made at a town-hall meeting at the company's headquarters in Bengaluru on Friday, comes after India's largest e-commerce company said last month that it was laying off at least 300 people who were non-performers, leading to concerns and questions among employees.

The co-founder admitted the company had missed financial targets in recent months, prompting an overhaul of its top rungs, according to employees who attended the meeting. "The townhall that we conduct regularly is one of the pillars of this culture of openness...Anybody is free to ask any question, challenge existing norms and hold the leadership accountable for business and organisation metrics," said a source from the firm to a news channel. Last month, Flipkart announced that it was buying fashion site Jabong for $70 million.