Ecommerce firm Flipkart has secured non-bank financial company (NBFC) licence from the Reserve Bank of India. This will enable the company to offer loans directly to consumers and sellers on its platform.
The licence has been granted to Flipkart Finance Private Limited. Also, it is said that this is the first time a major ecommerce company has received NBFC status. Walmart-owned Flipkart had applied for the licence in 2022 and it is said that the company might start its lending operation soon.
It is reported that the ecommerce giant will be lending directly to its customers on its platform. Last month, in the townhall 'Flipster Connect', CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy had said that the company will be hiring 5,000 employees and that a majority of these hires will be working at Flipkart Minutes, which is the firm's quick commerce arm and Super.money, its fintech platform.
Krishnamurthy also spoke about the flip back of the company and said that he was confident that they will continue to focus on profitability with a renewed emphasis on customer centricity.
In April, Flipkart Internet, the marketplace arm of Flipkart, had received about Rs 3,250 crore from its Singapore-based parent entity. Earlier in May last year, Flipkart raised $350 million from Google at a valuation of about $36 billion.
According to Tracxn, Flipkart has raised total equity funding of $12.1 billion so far and its annual revenue as on March 31, 2024 stood at Rs 70,800 crore ($8.56 bn). With about 85% stake, Walmart is the largest stakeholder in the e-commerce company, followed by Tencent. Tiger Global Management and Google, apart from others, have invested in the company.