On August 25, Walmart president and chief executive Doug McMillon said at an event ‘India is among the top markets in the world along with US and China and has its own rules that have to be complied with.’
The statement comes at a time when the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart is facing multiple challenges in the country, including a Competition Commission of India Investigation over regulatory issues. “India is a very dynamic environment—rules are changing, customers are changing,” McMillon said at virtual retail event Converge. “India is such a diverse market. So we have to think and execute locally. It has its own rules, so we have to comply with those rules.”
“Today we are not allowed to make a foreign direct investment in a multi-brand retail store, physical brick and mortar store, so we operate differently,” he added.
McMillon said he was excited about the way Flipkart and digital payments arm PhonePe were growing. “The Flipkart business has now reached 300,000 marketplace sellers and PhonePe has 300 million users, which is just amazing numbers. Both are growing very well,” he said.
