US retail firm Walmart and its Indian e-tailing arm Flipkart are optimistic about India despite the revised norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce, according to the companies, which said their commitment to India is deep and long term. Walmart’s assertion followed Morgan Stanley’s assessment that the former might exit the country.
The companies will continue to focus on creating “sustained economic growth and bringing sustainable benefits to India, including employment generation, supporting small businesses and farmers, and growing Indian exports to Walmart’s global markets,” regional Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Asia and Canada Dirk Van den Berghe told.
The policy revisions, issued by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on December 26 last year, barred ecommerce platforms providing a marketplace from exercising control or ownership over the inventory and forbids any company to sell its products exclusively on an e-commerce platforms alone. The e-tailing companies are now working towards changing the ownership of their inventory to comply with the revised norms.
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