The US supermarket has agreed to buy India’s biggest online retailer for $16 billion as it goes head to head with Amazon

Walmart is taking a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart.  The Indian online retailer controls a 39 per cent share of India’s e-commerce market and is also Amazon’s biggest competitor in the country.  In India, e-commerce sales are forecast to hit $200 billion a year within a decade.



In reality, Amazon has at least a 30 per cent share of India’s e-commerce market.  There were reports that it is already considering making a formal offer to acquire a 60 per cent stake in its flourishing local rival.

Flipkart’s investors, however, seemed to have other thoughts as they favoured a deal with Walmart, which has been active in India since 2007 through a partnership with Bharti Enterprises.