Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar met with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Finance Ministry shared a picture of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman meeting with a Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy-led delegation on August 19.
The Flipkart CEO briefed Sitharaman regarding the company’s relationships with sellers, notably SMEs. He also acknowledged Flipkart’s focus on supporting artisans as well as weavers in adopting digital platforms to reach a bigger audience to buy their products, as reported by news agency PTI.
Flipkart on its platform has around 3 lakh registered sellers from all across India, with 60% originating from tier II and tier III cities. Both through wholesale business and last-mile delivery service, Flipkart also works with over 1.6 million kiranas across India.
The Walmart-owned e-commerce company, which has more than 350 million registered customers from all across the nation, has been investing in important categories such as fashion, travel, and groceries. Flipkart has announced the introduction of Shopsy, a social commerce platform that will empower local entrepreneurship.
Flipkart, Myntra, Ekart (logistics and supply chain arm), Flipkart Wholesale, and Cleartrip are all part of the Flipkart Group, which was founded in 2007. The Group also owns a majority stake in PhonePe, the digital payments company. Walmart Inc spent USD 16 billion in Flipkart in 2018, acquiring 77 percent ownership, and led a $1.2 billion investment round in the e-commerce company earlier this year.
Flipkart raised about Rs 26,842 crore in funding last month for a valuation of $37.6 billion, with the parent company – Walmart, SoftBank, Singapore’s GIC Pte, and several other sovereign wealth and pension funds participating in the round. Sources said, Flipkart is working on its initial public offering (IPO), however, the company has not provided a particular date.
