The rising income levels, aspirational shoppers, cheap data powering smartphones and the telecom boom in India have contributed to creating a new Indian consumer with an urge to splurge. Today, India is a market that few global companies can afford to ignore, more so in the consumer space. No wonder then that the no. 1 ranked Fortune 500 company, Walmart Inc, paid a staggering $16 billion to take control of India’s largest e-commerce company, Flipkart, as it bet on the country’s growing consumption boom and estimates that consumer spending could grow to $6 trillion by 2030. The deal is the largest in the e-commerce space worldwide and the biggest purchase by Walmart in its 56-year history. This month’s cover story takes a deeper look at why Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart is clearly what we at Fortune India call the “Move of the Year”. Deputy Editor Ashish Gupta and Senior Editor Debabrata Das discuss the cover story in this video.
