Walmart-backed Flipkart to shift base back to India from Singapore

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(Reuters) -Flipkart will shift its holding company from Singapore to India, the e-commerce company said on Tuesday, as its parent Walmart aims to take the 17-year-old company public.

Many Indian startups that once chose to be based abroad for better access to capital and smaller tax bills are now queuing to return home from financial hubs such as Singapore and the U.S. due to better initial public offering (IPO) prospects in a country that does not allow dual listings.

“This move represents a natural evolution, aligning our holding structure with our core operations,” Flipkart said in a statement.

Flipkart started in 2007 by selling books online and expanded into a behemoth that competes with Amazon in India. It moved its holding company to Singapore in 2011.

Walmart bought a controlling stake in Flipkart in 2018, which also gave it ownership of PhonePe, a digital payments company owned by Flipkart at the time.

In 2022, PhonePe separated from Flipkart and shifted its headquarters from Singapore to India, a move that left Walmart with a tax bill of nearly $1 billion.

Walmart is looking to list Flipkart and PhonePe in India over the next couple of years, Dan Bartlett, Walmart’s executive vice president for corporate affairs, told Reuters last year.

PhonePe has already begun preparatory steps for a public listing on India’s stock exchanges.

Financial technology firms Razorpay and Pine Labs, quick commerce startup Zepto and advertising technology company InMobi are among startups that have already shifted, or are in the process of shifting, back to India.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)