Flipkart parent infuses Rs 2,839 crore in wholesale arm

Bengaluru: Flipkart India, the wholesale arm of the Walmart-owned ecommerce marketplace, has received Rs 2,839 crore from its Singapore-based parent, regulatory filings show.

This is the third such fund infusion into the unit this year, taking the total investment to Rs 5,701 crore.

The investment comes at a time when the ecommerce giant is preparing for its last sale of the season — Big Shopping Days.

In January, the investment was about Rs 1,431 crore into the wholesale unit, while in September, Flipkart infused Rs 1,616 crore into the business.

Flipkart India purchases goods in bulk from manufacturers and brands, and sells them to undisclosed B2B partners, or preferred sellers, who in turn list it on the marketplace.

Rival Amazon India also runs a similar unit for wholesale, called Amazon Wholesale India.

In the crucial October festival season, Flipkart and Amazon clocked combined sales of Rs 31,000 crore ($4.3 billion), with Flipkart leading with a 64% share of the combined gross sales, even as Amazon continued to fare higher in net promoter score (NPS), according to a report by RedSeerManagement Consulting.

 NPS measures the loyalty of customers to a company.

In December last year, the government barred online marketplaces and their group companies from owning sellers and prohibited them from controlling the inventory sold on their platforms.

Its intention was to stop predatory pricing by marketplaces. The revised regulations were implemented in February this year.

Separately, Flipkart Ltd, the Singapore-domiciled parent entity of the online retailer, reported consolidated revenue of Rs 43,615 crore for the financial year ended March 31, up 42% compared to last year.