Walmart readying to slip back into India through e-retail route

Months after it put its brick-and-mortar expansion plans in India in deep freeze, Walmart Stores is reported to be quietly readying a major e-retailing push in India with an electronic marketplace business model akin to that used by US-based Amazon and eBay Inc.

A team of 15-17 people under Walmart India's chief operating officer Arvind Mediratta and including global veteran and vice-president for operations in the India office, Steve Rodrigues, have been working on developing an electronic platform that is expected to go live in the next three to four months, The Economic Times reported citing sources.

Walmart is expected to finalise the brand name for the web site that will serve as its e-marketplace in India. Initially the site will cater to 'wholesale consumers', which would be an extension of its existing B2B physical retail chain, the report adds.

This development comes at a time when Walmart is trying to rebuild its India strategy after breaking up with its local partner Bharti Retail.

Walmart bought out the share of Bharti Enterprises in their equal equity wholesale retail joint venture Bharti Walmart Pvt Ltd, marking a split in their retail venture. This gave Walmart 100 per cent ownership of the 20 Best Price Modern Wholesale cash and carry business, which is open to only other sellers. FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed in wholesale retail business.

Bharti continues to independently operate neighbourhood retail chains under the Easyday brand spread across the north India region besides states like Maharashtra in the west and Karnataka in the south.

Early this year, Walmart appointed Krish Iyer as president and chief executive of Walmart India.