It's unlikely to get Flipkart out the door next year; A 2026 IPO may be a more reasonable expectation, with a little diplomatic help from the incoming government in Washington.
The business side of things is not the reason for the delay. Flipkart is the country's largest e-commerce player, ahead of Amazon.com Inc. The homegrown app lacks the consumer-service finesse of its rival, but its sheer reach across a continent-sized geography gives it the heft that took the likes of Unilever Plc a century to build.
Flipkart is a stake Walmart has put down in a market where brick-and-mortar foreign retailers face stifling restrictions. That's not an immediate problem; it might take a decade before Indians have the purchasing power to sustain a franchise like Sam's Club, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm's members-only warehouse division that is defying China's consumption funk. The question is, will New Delhi be ready for Sam's Club in 10 years?
This story is from the December 19, 2024 edition of Financial Express Chennai.
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This story is from the December 19, 2024 edition of Financial Express Chennai.
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