Walmart is upbeat about Flipkart and PhonePe: Walmart CFO

Flipkart's parent Walmart sees strong growth for its Indian ecommerce arm, despite pressure on the bottom line.

"Our Flipkart business continues to have really strong growth. We've invested a little bit more in that business, certain aspects of their product offering this year, which have contributed a little bit of pressure to the bottom line, but the top line has been doing really well," said John David Rainey, Executive VP & CFO at Walmart. at the 2025 Oppenheimer Consumer Growth & E-Commerce Conference.

Flipkart, through Flipkart Minutes, has been doubling down on quick commerce, leading to heavy expenditure considering the competitive nature of the segment. The company plans to open 800 quick commerce dark stores by the end of the year.

Flipkart Minutes competes with players such as Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto along with new entrants like Amazon Now.

Commenting on quick commerce in India, Kath McLay, EVP, President & CEO, Walmart International, had said last month, in an investor conference, that the segment is about 20% of the ecommerce business in the country, and is currently on a 50% growth trajectory.

Flipkart, which is looking at a major expansion across key verticals, is set to hire 5,000 employees in 2025, across quick commerce, fintech, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Rainey is also bullish about PhonePe's public debut.

Calling India an "extremely exciting" market for Walmart. he said, "PhonePe has recently launched or announced their intention to do an IPO in the next year. We're excited about that."

In April, digital payments company PhonePe changed its name from PhonePe Private Limited to PhonePe Limited. In 2022, the Sameer Nigam-led fintech firm had moved its base from Singapore to India.