Flipkart

Flipkart (Flipkart Internet Private Limited) is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, serving the Indian market. Founded in October 2007, it began as an online bookstore and later expanded into consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, furniture, beauty, books and lifestyle products. The company's own site describes more than 200 million users and over 150 million products across 80-plus categories, sold through the Flipkart website and mobile app.

The group operates a set of subsidiaries and units including Myntra (fashion), Ekart (logistics), Cleartrip, Flipkart Wholesale, Shopsy, Jeeves and Super Money. Flipkart Wholesale was launched after Flipkart acquired a 100% stake in Walmart India, which operated the Best Price cash-and-carry business, and initially piloted grocery and fashion categories under Adarsh Menon. Kalyan Krishnamurthy is CEO of the Flipkart Group, appointed in January 2017.

Walmart holds a controlling stake following its 2018 purchase of a 77% interest for US$16 billion, later reported at roughly 80.5-85% ownership. A 2023 AllianceBernstein report cited by Wikipedia put Flipkart's share of the Indian e-commerce market at 48%.

Founding story

Flipkart was founded on 22 October 2007 in Bengaluru by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, unrelated IIT Delhi alumni who had both worked as software engineers at Amazon. They started from a two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala with initial personal/family capital of about ₹400,000 (₹200,000 from each founder's family), selling books online. Early operations were manual, with the founders sourcing books from wholesalers in Daryaganj, Delhi and handling packaging and delivery themselves, offering competitive pricing and a 30-day replacement guarantee. The site reportedly handled around 100 orders a day by 2008.

Business model

Flipkart runs an online marketplace and app through which third-party sellers and brands list products across categories such as mobiles, electronics, large appliances, clothing, footwear, furniture, groceries, books, beauty and automotive accessories. It supports the marketplace with its own logistics arm, Ekart, and fulfilment centres, and operates category-specific subsidiaries such as Myntra for fashion, Shopsy, and Flipkart Wholesale for kirana stores and MSMEs. Sales events such as Big Billion Days, bank card discounts and credit offerings like Flipkart Pay Later are used to drive volume.

Revenue is generated from online retail and marketplace sales across product categories, with additional group businesses in wholesale (Flipkart Wholesale/Best Price), fashion (Myntra), travel (Cleartrip), logistics (Ekart) and payments/fintech units. Wikipedia reports revenue of ₹82,787 crore (US$8.6 billion) and a net loss of ₹5,189 crore (US$540 million) for the financial year ended 31 March 2025.

Traction

The company's site cites over 200 million users and 150 million-plus products across 80-plus categories. Other reported figures include over 100 million registered users, more than 100,000 sellers, 21+ warehouses, over 10 million daily page visits and more than 8 million shipments per month, with more than 1 billion people reported to have shopped on Flipkart. Big Billion Days generated US$100 million of sales in 10 hours in 2014 and US$300 million GMV in 2015; 1.3 million phones were sold in 20 hours on 21 September 2017. Reported revenue for FY ended 31 March 2025 was ₹82,787 crore (US$8.6 billion) with a net loss of ₹5,189 crore.

Latest developments

Flipkart raised US$3.6 billion in July 2021 at a US$37.6 billion valuation, led by GIC, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, SoftBank and Walmart, with sovereign funds from Malaysia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi also participating, ahead of an anticipated stock market debut; Reuters had reported preparations for an IPO outside India potentially valuing it at up to US$50 billion. A US$1 billion round including a US$350 million investment from Google was reported in 2024. Financials published for the year to 31 March 2025 show revenue of ₹82,787 crore and a net loss of ₹5,189 crore, and the company's domicile was reported to have moved from Singapore to India.