Flipkart, PhonePe could be $100 billion businesses in India, says Walmart CFO

Walmart's Flipkart marketplace and PhonePe payments business in India has the potential to become $100 billion enterprises, driven by robust growth, according to the retailer's Chief Financial Officer, John David Rainey. Speaking at an investor conference, Rainey highlighted the strong performance of Flipkart and PhonePe as crucial factors in achieving Walmart's goal of doubling its gross merchandise volume in foreign markets to $200 billion within five years.

While Walmart does not disclose specific sales figures for Flipkart and PhonePe, recent months have seen company executives highlight the significance of these two businesses. Walmart's international chief has previously referred to India's massive population of 1.4 billion as a "significant" opportunity for the retail giant.

In the most recent quarter, which ended on April 30, Walmart reported double-digit sales growth for its Flipkart business. This growth was driven by the acquisition of new shoppers in several cities and a substantial 50 per cent surge in advertising sales. Flipkart, valued at over $40 billion in 2022, ranks among India's most valuable startups.

Walmart also expressed enthusiasm for PhonePe's exceptional performance. The payments business achieved an annualised payment value of $1 trillion, primarily facilitated by the Unified Payments Interface—a highly popular real-time payment method in India. As of December, PhonePe held a dominant 46 per cent share of the payments market, according to the National Payments Corporation of India.

Additionally, PhonePe boasts an impressive user base of 400 million registered customers. To solidify its position as India's most valuable payments startup, Walmart injected an additional $200 million into PhonePe in March, valuing the business at $12 billion.

Rainey stated, "It is not far-fetched to envision both these businesses becoming $100 billion enterprises in the future."

Also Read 

'Buying Netflix at $4 billion would've been better instead of...': Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

ChatGPT beats top investment funds in stock-picking experiment