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.
Four Indian nationals, including a young woman, lost their lives and several others were injured in a tragic multi-vehicle road accident in the US state of Texas during the Labour Day weekend.
US-based retail giant Walmart is looking to source toys, shoes and bicycles from Indian suppliers as the company is targeting to increase its exports from India to USD 10 billion annually by 2027. The company also wants to develop new suppliers in categories such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumables, health and wellness, and apparel and home textiles, a company spokesperson told PTI. Officials from the Bentonville-headquartered firm recently held a virtual meeting with several domestic toy manufacturers in India.
At a time when the overall narrative is around India being an attractive investment destination, the two American multinationals are more specific in projecting India as their centrepiece.
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In October, Wal-Mart called off its six-year-old partnership with Bharti Enterprises and decided to operate wholesale stores independently in India.
The US Department of Justice is investigating whether Wal-Mart paid bribes in Mexico to obtain permits to open new stores there, and whether executives covered up an internal inquiry into the payments.
The delay and faltering partnership mean Wal-Mart may miss out on the "first-mover" advantage in a country considered the last great frontier for global retailers.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is tripling its sourcing from India to about $10 billion a year by 2027, said Judith McKenna, president, and chief executive officer of Walmart International, the segment which includes the company's operations outside the US. "To achieve this, we are growing our sourcing team in India," said McKenna, during a fireside chat with YourStory founder Shradha Sharma at Converge@Walmart, the flagship event of Walmart Global Tech India. "Walmart has a 20-year history of sourcing from India and already exports more than $3 billion worth of Made-in-India goods each year to 14 markets worldwide." McKenna said the company has expertise in processes such as international standards and demand forecasting that businesses need to get ready to export.
Given a history of labour issues, the latest protest in US Walmart stores is important.
The world's largest retail chain, the $446-billion Walmart, is likely to be the first international player to take off in India with its supermarket format. The Bentonville-based US giant is, in fact, ready with a network of 195 stores across India if it decides to extend its back-end and cash-and-carry partnership with Bharti Enterprises to front-end retail.
America's Walmart is likely to be the first overseas chain to enter the $590-billion Indian retail sector, as the the world's biggest retail giant is extending its parternship with Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprises.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, on Tuesday said that its sourcing from India could increase to 'hundreds of millions' of dollars within 4-5 years, thus, making the country an export hub for its global operations.
The Bentonville-based retailing giant's statement comes in the wake of the Indian government considering easing norms for foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing in India. Jain said the company wants the government to liberalise the FDI regime in retail in the country and has conveyed this to the concerned authorities several times.
Online play is a priority now -- so far unthinkable in a business that's all about a meaningful interface with kirana stores.
Flipkart has not been able to process with its plans of getting into the grocery vertical and is stuck on running pilots in select cities.
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.
Ever since the deal was announced of Walmart spending over $16 bn for a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart, the road to the takeover of India's biggest online marketplace has been quite bumpy
A slew of Indian firms, including Flipkart, Byju's and Zomato, is building a path to profitability and diversifying into newer business segments ahead of mega-IPO plans.
So what's up? Why are so many promoters heading for the door? It cannot be that all of them lost their appetite for a good fight at the same time.And if Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways and Subhash Chandra of Zee Entertainment do bow out, will it be seen as chickening out when the going got tough or the entrepreneurial instinct of surviving to fight another battle waned, wonders Shailesh Dobhal.
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.
Besides Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart is also facing a threat from Asia's richest man and RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is also betting big to grab a share of the country's e-commerce market.
Deciding to focus on the cash-and-carry segment in India, retail giant Wal-Mart plans to open 50 wholesale stores in the next four to five years to expand its footprint in the country.
While the world's largest retail chain is calling it a promotion, experts said the group may be looking at a new growth strategy for Asia.
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.
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.
Make no mistake, Reliance's entry into Indian e-commerce cannot be taken lightly. It is akin to a combine of AT&T and Wal-Mart challenging Amazon on its home turf, says Shailesh Dobhal.
'If Walmart is a physical retailer, why is it striking a deal with Flipkart for the online space?'
Where Binny slipped up badly was in gauging the level of transparency and governance that is expected by a global strategic investor, says Indrajit Gupta.
'"We want to get the learnings from Flipkart and take it to other parts of the world," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was quoted as saying.' 'That is a very large tuition fee for an MBA in a country that outdoes Brazil and perhaps even China in busting multinationals' knees and sometimes their heads as they try to crack a market of mostly impoverished people run by a government that has never really given up the sadistic pleasures of administering the license raj,' notes Rahul Jacob.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
Sources estimated the number of employees asked to leave because of downsizing stands at about 100.
It entered India in 2006, with the aim of tapping the promising consumer market.
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Traders were up in arms, fearing huge job loss if Walmart was to enter.
US retail major is in talks with Flipkart, Snapdeal, ShopClues and Grofers for partnership.
The chain readies to expand its footprint as Bharti focuses on its retail venture.
Companies world over have to confront unprecedented factors that can cause losses.
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