Walmart Infuses $600 Million Into Flipkart

Flipkart India Pvt. has raised $600 million (about Rs 4,995 crore) from majority stake owner Walmart Inc. as the company seeks to shore up its balance sheet ahead of an eventual listing.

"We can confirm the fund infusion from Walmart," a Flipkart spokesperson told NDTV Profit on Thursday, without providing further details.

The fundraise is part of a larger $1 billion round, the Economic Times reported earlier in the day, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Walmart had entered Flipkart in 2018, paying about $16 billion for a 77% stake and setting up a direct battle with Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com. Since then, both American giants have grabbed large chunks of India's burgeoning digital economy but have failed to be profitable.

Earlier in July, Walmart paid $1.4 billion to buy Tiger Global Management’s remaining stake in Flipkart. The deal happened at a valuation of around $35 billion for Flipkart, marginally lower than its $38 billion valuation in 2021.

A spokesperson for Walmart had then told NDTV Profit that a Flipkart IPO remains "our long-term ambition, and it will come at the right time."