Walmart India, Flipkart Top Executives Meet CCI Regulators

Top executives of Walmart India and Flipkart on Wednesday met fair-trade regulator CCI to explain their activities in the country, days after submitting an application seeking approval for their $16-billion mega merger deal.

While there was no official word on the meeting, sources said it was a “courtesy call” by the executives of the two companies during which they also apprised the regulatory authority of Walmart’s global sourcing from India, including from the farmers, and its work towards kirana stores and supplier development programmes.

Those present in the meeting included Walmart India President and CEO Krish Iyer and the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar, besides Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and its group legal head R Baweja, sources said.

In their meeting with CCI member Sudhir Mittal, the officials of the two companies briefly explained about their individual businesses, development programmes and other activities. The meeting comes days after Walmart approached the CCI for approval of its proposed acquisition of a majority stake in ecommerce major Flipkart. In their application filed last week, the two companies have said the acquisition, proposed through Walmart, deal doesn’t raise any competition concerns