Flipkart wholesale arm records revenue at Rs 51,176 crore in FY22

Flipkart India Private Limited, the wholesale business arm of the e-commerce major, saw its revenue rise 18 percent to Rs 51,176 crore in FY22, while net loss widened 39 percent to Rs 3,404 crore, according to the company's MCA filings shared by Tofler.

Meanwhile, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, a key arm of the e-commerce company that provides services like payment gateway, technology, advertising and logistics management, saw its revenue rise 31 percent to Rs 10,659 crore while net loss widened 51 percent to Rs 4,362 crore.

The company's MCA filings, accessed by financial intelligence platform Tofler, showed that its EBITDA loss ballooned from Rs 2,227 crore in FY21 to Rs 3,925 crore in FY22.

The filings showed that Flipkart Internet booked revenues of Rs 3,848 crore from logistics management services, Rs 2,084 crore from advertising services, Rs 2,824 crore from computer development services, and Rs 1,178 crore from the payment gateway and allied services in FY22.

Meanwhile, Walmart is considering raising $2-3 billion for its subsidiary Flipkart at a valuation of more than $40 billion to expand in India, said a report by Mint quoting sources earlier this week. In July last year, Flipkart raised approximately $3.6 billion. It is estimated that about $700-800 million of this capital remains.

Flipkart reportedly intends to go public at a valuation of over $60 billion. However, choppy markets and a worldwide drawdown on technology stocks amid recessionary fears have led to the shelving of multiple IPO plans this year in India – such as Oyo, boAT, and Mobikwik.

At the same time, rising inflation has hurt demand for the retail sector globally. Although consulting firm Redseer reported that the annual festive sales cycle began with a bang in the last week of September with Rs 40,000 crore of sales, industry insiders have said that demand is expected to taper off after an initial spike.

Walmart-owned Flipkart competes with Amazon in India's booming e-commerce space. According to brokerage firm Bernstein, even after making investments of $6.5 billion in India over the last eight years, profitability remains elusive for Amazon in the country with negative EBITDA margins of 5-10 percent.

The company also faces immense competitive pressure in the fast-growing categories like smartphones and apparel, a weaker value proposition in 'new' business areas like social commerce and quick commerce, limited traction in tier II and III cities, and an unfavorable regulatory environment for foreign retailers.