Walmart's Flipkart begins online wholesale service for Indian small businesses

The Indian e-commerce company Flipkart launched a wholesale service for small businesses on Wednesday.

The Walmart-owned firm is hoping to level the playing field against gargantuan competitors like Amazon, which leads the industry.

FLIPKART BUYS PARENT WALMART'S INDIAN WHOLESALE BUSINESS

"Flipkart Wholesale," which is available as an app for consumers' smartphones, sells retail merchandise in the cities of Bengaluru, Gurugram and Delhi.

In a statement, Flipkart explained it plans to extend its reach to 20 more cities and offer groceries by the end of 2020.

The company also aims to list more than 200,000 products in two months, as well as 50 brands and 250 local manufacturers in the next few days.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
WMT	WALMART INC.	92.64	+0.14	+0.15%

Majority-owned by Walmart Inc., Flipkart bought the U.S. retail giant's wholesale business in India in July.

According to reporting from The Economic Times, Flipkart plans to use insights from its parent’s business-to-consumer segment.

“Smart selection is a very big proposition from our end,” Senior Vice President and Head of Flipkart Wholesale Adarsh Menon told the publication on Wednesday.

"Flipkart Wholesale" will face competition from similar services, including Tencent-backed startup Udaan.

Amazon.com Inc and other e-commerce players like online grocery upstart JioMart have been courting India's mom-and-pop stores, which are viewed as the backbone of the country's economy.

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According to Reuters, Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. has raised over $20 billion from global investors, including Facebook and Alphabet's Google, for its digital arm, which is expected to support JioMart.