US retail giant Walmart on Monday issued a statement after various trader and retailer associations protested against its acquisition of e-commerce retailer Flipkart.
Walmart in its statement said, “Walmart is operating and contributing to Indian economy for many years now. Through our B2B business (Wholesale cash-and-carry) in India we are not only supporting lakhs of small kiranas succeed, but also helping them modernise.
Our continued efforts have been to support the domestic manufacturing in India by sourcing locally from SME suppliers, small farmers & Women Owned Businesses. A clear testament of that is showcased in our merchandise 95% of which come from within the country.
India is one of the important countries from where Walmart sources a significantly large volume of products for other WalMart markets. These products include handicraft, textile, apparel, pharmaceuticals etc, and hence give a boost to local manufacturing & exports.
In line with Government’s FDI policy allows 100% FDI under automatic route in Marketplace ecommerce model, our partnership with Flipkart will provide thousands of local suppliers and manufacturers access consumers through the marketplace model. This partnership will support SME suppliers, farmers in the country to get access to the market through this platform and boost local manufacturing in India.
We believe the combined capabilities of Flipkart and Walmart will create India’s leading e-commerce platform. This will benefit India by providing quality, affordable goods for customers, while creating new skilled jobs and fresh opportunities for small suppliers, farmers, and women entrepreneurs”.
