Flipkart & PhonePe On Path To Profitability, Says Walmart CFO

US-based retail major Walmart’s chief financial officer (CFO) David Rainey has said that ecommerce major Flipkart and digital payments giant PhonePe are on “path to profitability”. 

Speaking at an investor conference in London, parent Walmart’s CFO said that Flipkart’s “improving” losses are giving the the retail major a “lot of confidence” in what the ecommerce giant’s financial profile would look in a few years. 

“… They’re (Flipkart and PhonePe) all on their path to profitability. We’re seeing those ecommerce losses improve year after year after year, which gives us a lot of confidence in what the overall financial profile of this business looks like a few years from now,” said Rainey. 

On PhonePe, the Walmart CFO said that the fintech major is clocking “roughly $1.5 Tn of total payments volume (TPV)”. 

“They (PhonePe) are doing roughly $1.5 Tn of total payment volume… That has got to be up there as large as any payment company in the world, certainly outside of China. And how it’s resonating with customers there, it’s just amazing. So to be the largest payment provider in the largest market of the world, that’s exactly where you want to be,” Rainey added. 

He also expressed confidence over the growth clocked by PhonePe, saying Walmart is “pleased” with that performance of the fintech major. 

This comes a month after Walmart executives during a quarterly analyst call in May said that the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Flipkart and PhonePe could take a couple of years. During the same call, the CFO said Flipkart witnessed double-digit growth during the quarter ended April 2024. 

Interestingly, earlier this month, Rainey also said that Flipkart’s path to profitability would determine the timeline of the ecommerce major’s IPO.

This comes months after Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy reportedly told employees that the ecommerce major was “close” to hitting profitability and had significantly trimmed its monthly cash burn. 

Overall, Flipkart continues to be one of the biggest players in the Indian ecommerce space and has been rapidly looking to expand its footprint in other categories, including quick commerce. The company last month added Google to its cap table. As per a report, the tech giant was part of a $1 Bn funding round, which valued Flipkart at $35 Bn to $36 Bn. 

On the financial front, the ecommerce giant’s B2C arm, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, saw its operating revenue surge 42% YoY to INR 14,845.8 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). Meanwhile, loss reduced 9% to INR 4,026.5 Cr during the year under review from INR 4,419.5 Cr in FY22.

Meanwhile, PhonePe is another jewel in Walmart India’s crown. The fintech major is the biggest player in the digital payments space and has been accounting for nearly half of all the UPI payments almost every month.

However, PhonePe’s net loss grew 39% YoY to INR 2,795.3 Cr in FY23 while operating revenue rose 77% YoY to INR 2,913.7 Cr.

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