Walmart's Flipkart to re-apply for food retail license in India

[June 01, 2020]  BENGALURU (Reuters) - Walmart Inc's <WMT.N> Indian e-commerce unit Flipkart said on Monday it would re-apply for a food retail license in India after reports said its earlier proposal was rejected by the government last week.

The logo of India's e-commerce firm Flipkart is seen in this illustration picture taken January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/Illustration

India's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) last week rejected the e-tailer's proposal to sell food products through online and mobile platforms, the Times of India newspaper reported https://bit.ly/2XNtkhc on Monday.

"We are evaluating the department's response and intend to re-apply as we look to continue making a significant impact on small businesses and communities in India," the company said in a statement.

If successful, Flipkart would compete with Amazon.com Inc's <AMZN.O> India unit, Alibaba-backed <BABA.N> BigBasket, SoftBank-backed <9984.T> Grofers, and Reliance Industries Ltd's <RELI.NS> recently launched JioMart.

(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

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