New Delhi: Walmart, the US retail giant which signed an agreement in May this year to acquire 77 percent stake in Flipkart, said that the combined capabilities of Flipkart and Walmart will create India’s leading e-commerce platform.


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“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,” the company said in a statement.


The deal, under which co-founder Sachin Bansal and Japans Softbank Corp Group exitied, valued Flipkart at USD 20.8 billion. It is the biggest M&A deal in India this year.


Walmart said that it has constantly made efforts have been support domestic manufacturing in India by sourcing locally from SME suppliers, small farmers & Women Owned Businesses.


“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,” the company said.


Walmart had earlier this month said that it expects to close the deal before the end of current calendar year.


“In line with Government’s FDI policy which allows 100 percent 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,” it added.