Chennai: Flipkart’s Singapore-incorporated parent has infused $201 million (Rs 1,431 crore) into its wholesale entity in India amid an intensifying and costly battle for market share with Amazon.com Inc.
The latest fund infusion from parent Flipkart Pvt. Ltd was approved in December. In the same month, the Singapore-listed entity infused roughly $304 million (Rs 2,190 crore) into the local unit, regulatory filings showed.
According to reports from Mint, the fresh outlay by Flipkart comes as the Walmart-owned company seeks to fight off the challenge from Amazon to keep its leadership of India’s growing $18 billion online retail market, and a regulatory tussle with the government, which has issued new foreign direct investment rules for e-commerce firms that threaten to upend the online retail industry.
In October last year, Flipkart had reportedly begun talks with strategic investors to raise fresh capital after discussions with Google collapsed last year.
Flipkart’s chief executive, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, has said last year that the company had witnessed transaction growth of more than 80 per cent (in some months) as e-commerce boomed. He said the company is planning to push newer categories such as furniture and groceries over the next three years.
Krishnamurthy also indicated that Flipkart might start a video content business, either through a partnership or by developing a new business internally.
According to reports, Flipkart’s payments arm, PhonePe, may also raise funds separately as it seeks to catch up with bigger rival Paytm. Walmart has also indicated it is willing to continue funding PhonePe in the near future.
It must be noted that Amazon has nearly exhausted its original $5 billion commitment towards India.