PhonePe, Flipkart Could Be $100 Billion Businesses, Says Walmart

India's PhonePe Pvt. and Flipkart India Pvt. could be $100 billion businesses in the future, according to Walmart Inc.'s John David Rainey.

"India gets a lot of attention," Chief Financial Officer Rainey said, talking about Walmart's international ambitions at an investor conference hosted by Evercore ISI on June 14. "...with what's happening there with Flipkart and PhonePe, it's not crazy to think that both those businesses could be $100 billion businesses in the future, so it's quite exciting."

Walmart, in its Q1 FY24 earnings released in May, said that Flipkart and PhonePe are doing well. "For India, a group of us were there last week, and we left even more excited about our opportunities. Our Walmart tech team there is strong, and we have a big opportunity to increase our exports from India across quite a few merchandise categories," the company said.

It said Flipkart had strong top-line results and improved its contribution profit. "Flipkart's commerce platform continues to scale, growing first-time eCommerce customers and expanding its reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities," Walmart said in May.

Flipkart Ads, the company's advertising business, had grown by over 50%, it said.

"We continue to be pleased with PhonePe's great performance. During the quarter, we reached an important milestone with annualised total payment volume eclipsing the $1 trillion level for the first time," Walmart said in its Q1 earnings release.

"What we're seeing in India is the build-out of an ecosystem in its own right," the company said. Between Walmart's tech and sourcing capabilities, Flipkart and PhonePe are becoming "a mutually reinforcing flywheel of strength" for the market. "We're excited about what they're going to do in the future."