Walmart-led investors pump in $1.2 bn in Flipkart Group

Bengaluru, July 14 (IANS) A Walmart-led investor group on Tuesday pumped in an additional $1.2 billion into the ecommerce platform Flipkart Group to support its marketplace in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

With the new investment, Flipkart group is now valued at $24.9 billion. The $1.2 billion will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year.

"We're grateful for the strong backing of our shareholders as we continue to build our platform and serve the growing needs of Indian consumers during these challenging times," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said in a statement.

Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion specialty site Myntra and eKart.

In 2018, Walmart invested $16 billion for a majority stake in the group.

"Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online," Krishnamurthy said in a statement.

With a registered customer base of over 200 million, Flipkart recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month and reported 45 per cent growth in monthly active customers and 30 per cent growth in transactions per customer for FY20.

Flipkart offers 150 million products across more than 80 categories, and has pioneered customer-centric services such as cash-on-delivery, no-cost EMI and easy returns.

PhonePe recently reported annualised total payments value (TPV) of $180 billion on more than 500 million monthly transactions.

"Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India's digital transformation," said Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International.

The Flipkart Group last week invested Rs 260 crore to purchase a significant minority stake in Arvind Youth Brands, a subsidiary of Arvind Fashions Ltd (AFL).

Arvind Youth Brands owns the popular Flying Machine denim brand that has been retailing on Flipkart and Myntra for more than six years.

With this investment, the Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions will work collaboratively to identify opportunities and synergies to innovate and develop products with strong value propositions at attractive price points, the ecommerce platform said in a statement.

--IANS

na/vd