E-commerce major Flipkart has received around Rs 1,600 crore from its Singapore-based parent company Flipkart Private Ltd., in the run-up to this year’s festive season. According to documents filed with Registrar of Companies (RoC), this is the Walmart-owned e-commerce major’s first infusion of funds in the current financial year.
Flipkart India has allotted 4,64,403 equity shares to its Singapore parent entity at Rs 34,800 per share that includes a premium of Rs 34,799 on each share. Previously, in January, the wholesale unit had received Rs 1,431 crore from the parent firm.
The funding comes just ahead of a crucial festive season for India’s e-commerce operators. Flipkart has already announced that it is getting ready to kick off this year’s Big Billion Days sale from September 29 to October 2, while its rival Amazon has also announced that the Great Indian Festival sale will be started soon, though it hasn’t announced the dates yet.
Flipkart has been strengthening its network across India over the past few quarters, especially in the rural and semi-urban markets. The company has rolled out a Hindi language interface to increase reach in tier-II and tier-III cities, and has onboarded nearly 27,000 ‘kirana’ shops across 700 cities. For FY18, it posted a 39 per cent rise in revenue to Rs 21,658 crore.