Flipkart, PhonePe IPO May Take Couple of Years, Says Walmart Executive

Preliminary public choices of Walmart’s Flipkart market and PhonePe digital funds platform may take a few years, a Walmart government mentioned.

“That is one thing we’re taking a look at over the subsequent couple of years,” Walmart’s government vice chairman for company affairs, Dan Bartlett, mentioned on the sidelines of the corporate’s shareholder assembly close to its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, late on Thursday.

Walmart might put an preliminary public providing of PhonePe forward of Flipkart, regardless that Flipkart is a extra mature enterprise, Bartlett informed Reuters.

Primarily based in India, PhonePe is “one of many largest fee platforms” within the nation, he mentioned. He cited PhonePe’s tie to India’s immediate cash switch system, Unified Funds Interface (UPI), which permits customers to switch cash throughout a number of banks with out disclosing account particulars.

“There’s quite a lot of a processes that must be put in place earlier than we go public,” Bartlett mentioned, referring to PhonePe. “Clearly the query concerning the Indian alternate versus others” is “into consideration” for the longer term IPO itemizing, he added.

Walmart’s Flipkart market and PhonePe funds operations in India could possibly be $100 billion (roughly Rs. 8,35,200 crore) companies, buoyed by sturdy development, the retailer’s chief monetary officer mentioned a yr in the past at an investor convention.

Executives at the moment cited the 2 companies as key drivers that would assist Walmart meet its goal of doubling the gross merchandise quantity it sells in international markets to $200 billion (roughly Rs. 16,70,300 crore) in 5 years.

PhonePe mentioned in October 2023 that its consolidated income for the monetary yr 2023 surged 77 %, as extra prospects used its platform to ship and obtain cash in India’s booming digital funds market.

With greater than 490 million registered customers, PhonePe had a close to 51 % share of the worth of transactions on India’s UPI as of March 2023.

© Thomson Reuters 2024