‘Such a big economy, growing so fast’: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon bets big on India with $10 billion sourcing push and long-term vision

Walmart is doubling down on its India bet with a long-term vision, said Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart Inc. The U.S. retail giant aims to ramp up its annual sourcing from India to $10 billion—a move that underscores the country’s rising importance as a global hub for both supply chain and technology operations.

“It’s a broad number of dimensions now that forms the interaction that we have with each other. And we have a long-term point of view. I think you can see that from the many years that we’ve been here, and you can expect that to continue,” said McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart Inc., during his recent visit to India for the Walmart India Showcase.

Walmart is setting its sights on sourcing $10 billion worth of goods annually from India, a leap that reflects the US retail giant’s growing reliance on the country as a global sourcing and technology hub. “If you look at what’s happened in our sourcing business, it’s grown a lot. And now we have this goal of getting to $10 billion a year, which is a really big number,” said McMillon. 

McMillon, who has been visiting India for years, described the company’s journey in the country as a movie unfolding in chapters. “At the beginning, we were sourcing products here. It was limited categories, but we were excited to get started… and together with the supplier community, we’re working to achieve that [$10 billion goal],” he said.

Over time, Walmart’s India operations have expanded beyond sourcing to include technology, e-commerce, and financial services, cementing its presence through local players such as Flipkart and PhonePe. “We added some associates here that work for Walmart, wear our badges, do work that helps our customers around the world. That’s grown a lot to become a very important part of the company, driving a lot of innovation,” McMillon added.

Calling India a rare combination of scale and speed, McMillon said, “We see the growth in India. We see entrepreneurship happening here. And we get to do business all over the world, and it's rare to have such a big economy growing so fast and creating so much opportunity for so many. And we want to be part of that process… to serve its citizens, and to demonstrate that we’re a trusted partner.”

Kathryn McLay, President and CEO of Walmart International, echoed this sentiment and emphasised Walmart’s dual focus on enabling small businesses and promoting exports. “What we want to do really simply is open more doors for more people to be able to succeed,” she said.

She spotlighted Walmart Vriddhi, an initiative to support MSMEs, through which 70,000 businesses have graduated so far. “We have just made a commitment for another 100,000 by 2028,” McLay said. Sharing an example, she spoke of Nisha, a first-generation entrepreneur who runs a handmade jewellery business called Yamini Lifestyles. Through Walmart’s Vriddhi platform, Nisha scaled her business on Flipkart, doubled her sales, and expanded her team. 

Walmart’s India strategy increasingly revolves around enabling local businesses to plug into global value chains. “It was impressive for me to hear not only the success they’re having on Flipkart but also on Walmart.com in the US, as well as in Canada, and now to other markets like Mexico and Chile,” McLay added.

Beyond business, McLay underlined Walmart’s commitment to community development. “Business success should translate into community success. We’ve seen it happen. We’ve helped make it happen. You’ve partnered with us to make that happen.”

"Walmart has partnered with the India growth story across categories, across sectors touching on almost 300 million households across every pincode in India... Today, we can evidence the variety and scale of partnerships that Walmart has with India through all of these brands," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart at the event.

The retailer’s intensified India focus comes at a time when Walmart reported revenue of $165.61 billion for the quarter ended April 30, a 2.5% year-on-year increase. However, net income for the quarter declined to $4.45 billion from $5.10 billion a year ago.