American retail mammoth Walmart, which has been stressing on expanding its presence in India, is focussed to build ‘foundation for future growth not profitability’ in the country. This was stated by Krish Iyer, President, Walmart India, during an event organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, recently.
According to Iyer, India has emerged as the most attractive market at a time when various nations across the globe are going through an economic slowdown.
“Ease of doing business” is the moto of the Central Government which has helped India to fetch investments. 21 segments now come under Foreign Direct Investment categories, underlined Iyer while explaining what makes India the preferred market for Walmart.
Notably, Walmart has its plans in place to increase its physical retail store count in India to 70 by 2022 from its current count of 21 Best Price wholesale stores in 9 states.
As part of its expansion plans, Walmart inaugurated its first fulfilment centre (FC) in Bhiwandi near Mumbai last year. The opening of the FC is aimed to speed up its retail operations in India.
In another development, Walmart is also (reportedly) planning to buy more than 40 per cent stake in India’s top e-commerce company Flipkart.
According to reports, the deal between Flipkart and Walmart is likely to be sealed at US $ 21 billion which will give the latter a majority stake through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases.
Once materialised, it will pose a serious challenge to Amazon India as Flipkart will be in a better position to give an even tough competition to it.
