Walmart pays most of tax bill arising from shifting of PhonePe headquarters to India

US retail giant Walmart has paid the taxes arising from the shifting of the headquarters of PhonePe to India.

Digital payments company PhonePe, in which Walmart has a majority stake following the takeover of parent outfit Flipkart, had shifted its headquarters from Singapore to India.

According to reports, the bill stems from the relocation and increase in the value of PhonePe. Some reports also suggested that Walmart Inc and other PhonePe shareholders faced nearly $1 billion as capital gains tax after the digital payments company shifted its headquarters to India.

In response to an email query from PTI, Walmart said: "We can confirm the tax has been paid." The company, however, did not divulge details.

In October last year, fintech platform PhonePe announced that it had moved its domicile from Singapore to India.

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As part of that, all PhonePe Group businesses and entities were transferred and consolidated under PhonePe Pvt Ltd - India.

US-based Bentonville, in 2018, completed the acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart and become the majority owner of the Indian ecommerce company.

PhonePe was founded in December 2015 and has emerged as India's one of the largest payment apps, enabling digital inclusion for consumers and merchants alike. With 400 million registered users, one in four Indians is now on PhonePe.

Besides payments, the firm has expanded into other financial services like gold, insurance, and mutual funds, and is also looking at launching its own payment gateway. It recently acquired the BNPL platform ZestMoney to tap into the lending segment.

Expanding its suit, the digital payment firm has also acquired GigIndia, WealthDesk, OpenQ, and IndusOS, as part of its bigger plan to create a superapp. 

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)