Adani group on Tuesday announced a $100 billion investment to develop hyperscale, artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centres powered by renewable energy by 2035. The initiative is expected to catalyse an extra $150 billion in investment across server manufacturing, electrical infrastructure, Cloud platforms, and supporting industries over the next decade.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is learnt to have offered the option of closing a FEMA violation case against e-commerce major Flipkart if the Walmart group firm admits its mistake and pays a penalty, sources aware of the development said.
At the stroke of midnight, live dashboards lit up simultaneously across Amazon India's World Trade Centre headquarters and Flipkart's Outer Ring Road office in Bengaluru. In sprawling "war rooms" at both the companies, executives monitored real-time data streams tracking payment speeds, inventory levels, and delivery logistics as millions of shoppers flooded online platforms.
Flipkart Group Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy on Monday said the firm was advancing preparations for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in India, which included shifting its holding company to India from Singapore. Speaking at an internal town hall, Krishnamurthy said the company's leadership structure is strengthening and that the steps toward relocating Flipkart's legal base to India are progressing as planned, according to people familiar with the matter.
'As long as apps show impossible delivery times, delivery and packaging workers will be pressured to meet unsafe, unhealthy standards.'
Festive sales are expected to surge 27 per cent to cross Rs 120,000 crore in 2025, driving Amazon and Flipkart to expand warehousing capacity by millions of cubic feet and extend delivery networks to thousands of new pin codes -- an infrastructure buildout that could reshape India's retail landscape for years.
Under this programme, first-year students enrolled in professional STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) undergraduate programmes who are children of kirana store owners (KSOs) will receive a fixed scholarship of Rs 50,000 in the academic year 2025-26.
'The first time India has seen two consecutive blockbuster IPO years.'
rediffGURU Chocko Valliappa counsels students how to choose the right course and career after Class 12.
Flipkart, the e-commerce company owned by Walmart, is intensifying its efforts to achieve profitability as it is eyeing a valuation of approximately $60 billion at the time of its initial public offering (IPO), now planned in 2025-2026, instead of this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm might consider listing in the US or any other geography, including India. The company, which counts the likes of Amazon and Reliance's JioMart among its competitors in India's burgeoning e-commerce market, had also contemplated launching an IPO in 2022-2023.
IPOs have been the flavour of the season for some time. But the coming together of three mega IPOs, from diverse businesses and historic relevance, could tell a story that's still in the making, points out Nivedita Mookerji.
US-based retail giant Walmart will connect one lakh more MSMEs in the next three years to its supplier development programme in India, a company official said here on Thursday. The programme, Walmart Vriddhi, has partnered with Ideas to Impact Foundation (i2i), which will enable more MSMEs to expand their access to both national and international markets, helped by the combined strengths of Walmart's global supply chain and Flipkart's e-commerce capabilities.
... catch up with Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto...
Flipkart on Monday said it has entered into a commercial partnership with the Adani group to strengthen logistics and data centre capabilities of the Walmart-owned company and create about 2,500 direct jobs.
Flipkart, Jabong-Myntra and PhonePe will operate under this group structure and their CEOs will report to Binny
Flipkart will acquire 100 per cent of Cleartrip's shareholding as the company further enhances its investments to strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers, a statement said.
Walmart group firm Flipkart continues to dominate the e-commerce segment with 48 per cent market share while Softbank-backed Meesho has emerged as the fastest growing e-commerce platform in terms of user base in India, a latest report by AllianceBernstein said. According to the report, Flipkart's user base grew 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY), Meesho accelerated at 32 per cent while Amazon lagged at 13 per cent user growth primarily due to relative premium offerings as compared to peers. "As of FY23, Flipkart was the market leader, with a 48 per cent share in India eCommerce.
Flipkart Group on Monday said it has raised $3.6 billion (about Rs 26,805.6 crore) in funding led by GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart, valuing the e-commerce giant at $37.6 billion. The company, which competes with Amazon, Reliance Industries' JioMart and others in the burgeoning Indian e-commerce market, said it will continue to make deeper investments across people, technology, supply chain and infrastructure to address the requirements of a rapidly growing consumer base in the country. The current funding round has also seen participation from sovereign funds DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazanah Nasional Berhad as well as marquee investors Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton and Tiger Global.
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.
Meesho has emerged as the second-largest player by order share in this year's festive sales till now, surpassing Amazon, while Flipkart Group platforms topped the market in both orders and gross merchandise value (GMV), according to according to a report by consultancy firm Redseer. It said Flipkart Group maintained its leadership position with a 62 per cent market share in terms of GMV during the first week of the festive season, followed by Amazon which had 26 per cent share, while the remaining 12 per cent was distributed among other e-commerce players. In terms of order volume, Flipkart Group again leads the market with about 49 per cent share and SoftBank-backed Meesho ranks second with about 21 per cent order share, according to Redseer.
Flipkart has promoted several of its leaders into newer roles at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant has internally raised its IPO (initial public offering) valuation target to about $60 billion and aims for a US listing in 2023, according to the sources. "I am delighted to announce the promotion of some of our exemplary leaders," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, in an internal note, and which has been reviewed by Business Standard. "Each of them has been instrumental in delivering impact and creating long-term value for Flipkart.
More than 30 technology startups, collectively valued at $100 billion, are poised to go public by 2027, signalling a potential rebound in India's stock market activity, according to a report by investment bank The Rainmaker Group. Walmart-owned Flipkart, financial technology (fintech) leader PhonePe, SoftBank-backed Lenskart, Razorpay, Zetwerk, and Meesho are among the top companies preparing to go public in India.
Walmart-owned Flipkart will undertake a buyback employee stock options worth about Rs 600 crore, according to sources Earlier in the day, Flipkart announced raising $3.6 billion (about Rs 26,805.6 crore) in funding from a clutch of investors that valued the e-commerce major at $37.6 billion (about Rs 2.79 lakh crore). In an e-mail to employees, Flipkart group chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy lauded the critical role played by the staff in reaching this milestone.
His decision follows an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart into an allegation of serious personal misconduct. Bansal, however, denies the allegations.
With this round of funding, Flipkart's valuation has reached USD 11.6 billion, and US IT major Microsoft joins the marketplace as a strategic investor.
Fresh capital will help Flipkart further grow its e-commerce marketplace in India as the world's second-largest internet market begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
E-commerce major Flipkart has burnt cash of $3.7 billion (about Rs 30,000 crore) in about a year ending September 2022, according to regulatory filings. Flipkart had $1 billion in cash in July 2021, which came down to $887 million by September 2022. The company, in July 2021, raised $3.6 billion (about Rs 29,000 crore), which has been completely exhausted, according to regulatory filings of Flipkart and Walmart.
Amazon will invest more than Rs 2,000 crore (about $233 million) in India in 2025 as it strengthens its logistics and safety standards, said the ecommerce company on Thursday.
Walmart-owned Flipkart on Thursday said the company is in compliance with Indian laws, including FDI regulations, and will cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate on the notice sent to the e-commerce major. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a show cause notice of Rs 10,600 crore to Flipkart and its promoters for alleged violation of the foreign exchange law, official sources said on Thursday. When contacted, Flipkart said it is in compliance with Indian laws and regulations, including FDI regulations.
With an existing consumer base of 400 million across airports, electricity and gas distribution businesses, the Adani group is revving up its retail play. It is planning to use the 2.4 billion consumer interactions a year with group companies to push various products and services. The group has already launched the 'Adani One' super app that will eventually sell products across the spectrum, top executives said.
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.
The department for promotion of industry and internal trade has rejected Walmart-backed Flipkart's proposal seeking approval for entry to the food retail sector, citing a regulatory issue, an official said on Monday. The government permits 100 per cent foreign direct investment in food retail for food produced and manufactured in India.
The Karnataka government is planning to levy a fee of 1-2 per cent on aggregator platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, etc., a government source said on Friday, adding that an announcement in this regard could come following a sub-committee meeting next week. "There is a sub-committee meeting scheduled in the coming week.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, once hailed as rising stars in India's clean energy sector, are now facing serious regulatory action.
The order follows a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh which accused the e-commerce firms of anti-competitive practices like preferential listing, exclusive tie-ups and private labels.
In a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission on Friday, Walmart said it would allow the initial public offering of Flipkart in four years at a valuation no less than what it invested in the e-commerce firm, if a grouping of minority shareholders asks for it.
After a massive selloff in the shares of food delivery giants Zomato and Swiggy, analysts believe the time may be right for investors to start adding these stocks to their portfolio carts. Their optimism, they say, stems from the sharp correction in stock prices and valuations, which seem to have "over-baked" concerns about the two companies.
Musk said on Friday that he believes India-US ties are "trending positive" and that he favours an enhanced trade partnership between the two nations.
Amar Nagaram, the chief executive officer of Myntra, has put in his papers after three years of leading the fashion e-commerce platform, and will pursue his own venture. According to an email by Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy to employees, Nagaram will be at Myntra till December-end to ensure a smooth transition, and will continue to be associated in an advisory role. "After nearly three years of leading Myntra, Amar has decided to leave the Flipkart Group to pursue his own venture.
Udaan, India's largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company, has received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for its internal corporate restructuring plan, according to sources. By consolidating into a single entity, the restructuring will enhance Udaan's agility and pave the way for various financing options, including the ability to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) in India by 2026, according to people familiar with the matter.