As many as 26 top e-commerce companies, including Zepto, BigBasket and Zomato, have given an undertaking that their platforms are free from misleading claims and unfair trade practices which constitute 'dark patterns', the government said on Thursday.
The acquisition of Walmart India adds a strong talent pool with deep expertise in the wholesale business that will strengthen Flipkart's position to address the needs of kiranas and MSMEs uniquely.
All of the 56 impacted associates, eight in the senior management and 48 in the middle as well as lower management, have been offered enhanced severance benefits and out placement services to support their transition, the company said.
Former Walmart India head Raj Jain has been roped in as an advisor by the Bharti Group, which on Wednesday parted ways with the US retail giant to operate stores independently in India.
The previous United Progressive Alliance government had permitted up to 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail but the current National Democratic Alliance government is opposed to it.
The move is likely to hit Bharti-Walmart, the 50:50 joint venture between the US' Walmart and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Group that operates cash-and-carry outlets in India, the most.
Ramnik Narsey, the new chief, had joined the retail giant in May 2013.
Although Walmart-Flipkart wholesale game-plan is to target about a $150 billion market out of a total pie of $700 billion in the country, the consolidation marks the end of the multi-brand dream of the American retail giant.
Global retail giant Walmart is expected to soon firm up its plan to foray into India's multi-brand sector.
Reliance Industries Ltd will acquire German firm Metro AG's wholesale operations in India for Rs 2,850 crore as the conglomerate run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani seeks to strengthen its dominant position in India's mammoth retail sector. "Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100 per cent equity stake in Metro Cash & Carry India for a total cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore, subject to closing adjustments," said a joint statement. Through this acquisition, Reliance Retail will get access to a network of Metro India stores located in prime locations across key cities, along with a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, and a strong supplier network.
At present, the US-based retail giant operates B2B e-commerce platform in four cities -- Lucknow, Hyderabad, Guntur and Vijayawada -- in the country.
In conversation with Walmart India president and CEO Krish Iyer.
Many Walmart India associates made immediate in-kind contribution.
Sources estimated the number of employees asked to leave because of downsizing stands at about 100.
If Sachin Bansal sells his stake at a little over 5 per cent and steps down from Flipkart, as reports have suggested recently, either Binny Bansal or Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart, could be an option for the leadership position.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
Bharti Retail on Friday announced appointments of former head of Walmart India Raj Jain as its CEO and Pankaj Madan, another senior executive of erstwhile joint venture Bharti Walmart, as Chief Financial Officer.
Online play is a priority now -- so far unthinkable in a business that's all about a meaningful interface with kirana stores.
With an epic battle of billionaires for supremacy in one of the world's most prolific markets and a pandemic-propelled surge in online shopping in the background, India's nearly trillion-dollar retail market is hoping to touch 85 per cent of the pre-COVID business in the first half of the New Year. In a year when the COVID-19 carnage ripped apart the retail business, circa 2020 will best go down for the unravelling of the war between Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest man, and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani for pre-eminence in the booming market that is estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. It all started with Ambani's Reliance Industries agreeing in August to buy assets of the nation's second-largest retailer for Rs 24,713 crore, just a year after Bezos' Amazon purchased an indirect stake in the indebted Future Retail.
In India, Walmart provides service to over 6,00,000 business members and small mom and pop stores.
Latest 'clarifications' add to the confusion; foreigners may delay investments, and Indian firms will find it difficult to get investors.
Walmart's JV with Bharti hinges on policy clarity
Walmart is still waiting for the multi-brand retail sector to open for foreign direct investment.
The US-based retailer Walmart Stores Inc, which has a wholesale joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, said its immediate focus in India will be to scale up operations before aiming to be profitable in a medium to long term.
Selects Wipro, Collabera as vendors; total IT sourcing from India about $1 billion.
However, the countries did not take up the issue of proposed withdrawal of export incentives by the US to Indian exporters under Generalized System of Preference.
Walmart had entered into a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises.
US retail chain Walmart is awaiting a decision by its board decision on its India strategy, including its partnership with the Bharti group.
The firm is likely to spend $600 million in total for the new stores. The average size of its stores is about 55,000 sq ft.
This could mean an end to the talks for a possible partnership between the two firms in the multi-brand retail space -- less than a year after 51 per cent foreign investment was allowed in the sector.
US retail giant Walmart has asked the government for more time to convert $100 million of debentures held in a Bharti Group unit, an investment that's being investigated for alleged violation of norms.
US retail major is in talks with Flipkart, Snapdeal, ShopClues and Grofers for partnership.
Walmart acquired Bharti's 50 per cent stake in the wholesale joint venture.
Scott Price is learnt to have conveyed to Sharma that Walmart remained committed to the India market.
Bentonville-based Walmart has also raised apprehensions about the ongoing probe by investigating agency Enforcement Directorate, said an internal note of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Physical format stores are here to stay.
Core sector companies have seen volumes drop to single digit in the first nine months of FY16.
The one-year extension would give Walmart and its Indian joint venture partner in the cash and carry business, Bharti Group, more time to sort things out and decide on a retail foray together, people in the know said.
Decision-making is stretched because of differences in views between ministries.
E-commerce pilot for wholesale begins from July in Hyderbad and Lucknow
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances