IN MAY 2018, when Walmart Inc., the world’s No.1 retailer, bought a 77% stake in Flipkart, the $16 billion it paid was a record purchase price for any ecommerce company worldwide. Flipkart, founded in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal, was backed by leading global investors Tencent Holdings Ltd., Tiger Global Management LLC, and Microsoft Corp.

The acquisition worked. By December 2023, Walmart had increased its stake to 81% and is preparing to list Flipkart.

An earlier Walmart initiative had not. Walmart has been in India for over two decades, beginning by buying assorted items for its stores worldwide from an outpost in Bangalore in 2002, when it was Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and India’s tech capital was yet to become Bengaluru. Since then, it has sourced products worth around $30 billion. Its target is $10 billion a year from 2027.

In 2007, it joined hands with Bharti Enterprises, then India’s largest telecom operator, to launch a wholesale food and grocery business. German giant Metro AG’s Metro Cash & Carry was already there since 2003. The first Walmart-Bharti store came up in Amritsar, Punjab. The hyphen failed, rent asunder by unclear government policies on foreign direct investment in modern retail and competition from small grocers.

This time, the Flipkart acquisition has embedded Walmart (which dropped the hyphen in December 2017) in India’s tech-driven growth story. Kathryn McLay, president and CEO of Walmart International, says that at the core, “Walmart is an omnichannel retailer dedicated to helping people save money and live better.”

“Walmart in India combines our global ecosystem with deep local insights to foster economic growth and serve customers through strategic investments in ecommerce, financial services, supplier development, and philanthropy,” says McLay, who became CEO of the international business of Walmart in 2023 and sits on the board of Flipkart.

Walmart now has Flipkart, which connects over 1.4 million sellers, mostly small enterprises; fashion e-commerce brand Myntra; Flipkart Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace; Ekart, its supply and logistics arm; fintech offerings through SuperMoney and value-conscious shopping platform Shopsy.

In 2021, a year after Covid-19, Flipkart acquired Cleartrip, an online travel and leisure aggregator. In 2022, it acquired SastaaSundar.com, a digital healthcare and pharmacy rebranded as Flipkart Health+. In August 2024, it entered quick commerce with Flipkart Minutes. Flipkart also has Flipkart Ventures, a $100 million fund that has invested in start-ups.

Walmart has not stopped investing in Flipkart after the acquisition. In 2021, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion led by Walmart. The investment valued Flipkart at $37.6 billion.

In 2023, Walmart paid nearly $3.5 billion to acquire the shares of early investors Binny Bansal, Tiger Global, and Accel. In the latest $1 billion multi-tranche funding round, Google’s parent Alphabet brought in $350 million for a minority stake, and Walmart brought the rest.

SastaaSundar.com

Flipkart's big role: How the e-commerce giant has become central to Walmart's growth strategy