Flipkart India Gets INR 1,600 Cr Infusion From Singapore Entity Amid Festive Season Sale

Ahead of the festive season, ecommerce giant Flipkart’s Singapore-based entity invested close to INR 1,600 Cr in its Indian arm.

As per Flipkart India Private Ltd’s regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, its board on September 8 passed a resolution approving allotment of 3,11,410 shares at a price of INR 51,057 per share to Flipkart Private Ltd, a company incorporated in Singapore. 

Besides, in a resolution passed on August 25, Flipkart India Private Ltd’s board gave its nod to issue 934 shares at the same issue price of INR 51,057 per share.

In total, the Singapore-based entity infused INR 1,594.76 Cr in its Indian arm. 

Inc42 has reached out to Flipkart India seeking a comment on the fund infusion. The story will be updated on receiving a response from the company. 

The development comes at a time when Flipkart is locking horns with its arch rival Amazon India in the festive season. Most ecommerce companies, including Flipart, Amazon and Myntra, line up their festive sales in the last week of September or the first week of October. 

The investment could give Flipkart more teeth to fend off its rival Amazon as the two deep-pocketed players continue to fight for supremacy in the Indian ecommerce space. 

The Festive Season Mania

Consulting firm RedSeer has projected that online ecommerce portals will log sales of $11.8 Bn during this year’s festive season. With the effect of pandemic waning and life returning to normalcy, the numbers are expected to break all previous records.

Flipkart has spent big on advertisements and infrastructure upgradation to prepare for its ‘Big Billion Days Sale’, which began today. 

The startup has also increased its seasonal workforce to 250K from 115K. Additionally, it has added more retail stores and kirana shops to spruce up its last-mile delivery ecosystem. 

Besides, it has spent large amounts of money to build its logistics systems and create a supply chain of new warehouses and dark stores to fulfill orders during the eight-day festive sale. 

The Walmart-backed ecommerce player has also partnered with Swiggy and Dominos to curate offers and combos for their users. It has tied up with Paytm and has unveiled a slew of offers on Google Pay to woo more buyers and increase the average spending on the platform.

Earlier last month, Walmart’s chief executives offer John David Rainey said that he is impressed with the performance of the ecommerce giant, and added that Flipkart is meeting the US-based parent firm’s expectations.

Earlier today, Flipkart’s rival Amazon also announced expanding its four-hour delivery service to Prime members in 50 cities from 14 cities earlier.

According to an Inc42 report, India’s addressable ecommerce opportunity is projected to reach $200 Bn by 2026. The number of ecommerce shoppers in India surged past 140 Mn in 2021, as per the report.