Flipkart's valuation trimmed again

New Delhi: A mutual fund managed by Morgan Stanley has marked down the value of its holding in Flipkart for the fifth straight quarter, valuing the e-commerce major at USD 5.37 billion.

The markdown comes at a time when its American rival Amazon is aggressively gaining traction in the burgeoning Indian e-commerce market.

Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Trust has valued each share of Flipkart Online Services at about USD 50.51 apiece, down from USD 52.13 a share during the September quarter, as per a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The mutual fund currently holds 566,827 shares in the online retailer.

Last year, Morgan Stanley had marked down the value of its shares in Flipkart for the September quarter to USD 52.13 per share from USD 84.29 per share in March.

Throughout last year, the Bengaluru-based firm has seen several markdowns by its investors like Valic Co, Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price.

The company had last raised funds at a valuation of over USD 15 billion in July 2015. There are reports that the company is in talks with multiple investors to raise fresh capital.

Following constant top-level churn and slowing pace of growth, majority shareholder Tiger Global took direct control of the company with the appointment of its former executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy as CEO in January this year.