US retail giant Walmart pumps Rs 275 Cr into its Indian subsidiary
The development comes after Walmart acquired a 77-percent stake in homegrown e-commerce company Flipkart.
Walmart Investments Cooperatie U.A, Amsterdam infused Rs 275 crore into Wal-Mart India Private Limited, documents filed with Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. The Indian subsidiary owns and operates 23 Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in India.
The development comes after the US-based retail giant acquired a 77-percent stake in homegrown ecommerce company Flipkart. In September, the company said that with the acquisition of Flipkart it sees a great value in omnichannel retail, although it will continue to focus on cash-and-carry business for the brick-and-mortar format in the country.
Last week, the company also reiterated that its $16-billion Flipkart acquisition that forced it to cut its 2019 earnings forecast is unlikely to impact the company’s India investment plans. Media reports said last week that Walmart India would invest about $500 million (about Rs 3,200 crore at the current exchange rate) to open another 47 stores by 2022 to take the total number of outlets to 70.
Walmart India chief Krish Iyer also said recently that out of the 23 B2B cash-and-carry stores, 19 have achieved break even with over a million members.
The 23 business-to-business, cash-and-carry wholesale format stores offer nearly 5,000 items in India to resellers, offices and institutions and hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa). The company also operates two fulfilment centres in India. The first wholesale cash-and-carry store was opened in Amritsar in May 2009.
The Indian subsidiary narrowed its losses during FY17 to Rs 75 crore, compared to the loss of Rs 133 crore in the previous fiscal of 2016. The company registered a total revenue of Rs 3,641 crore in FY17 of which Rs 1,921 crore was contributed by food sales and the balance was contributed by FMCG and others.
