Flipkart said on Tuesday that it will move its holding company from Singapore to India. The company, which is owned by Walmart, is getting ready to go public, as per reports.
Earlier, many Indian startups set up their base in countries like Singapore and the US to get easier access to funding and pay less tax. But now, many of them are moving back to India, as listing their companies in the Indian stock market looks more promising.
This is also because India does not allow companies to be listed in two countries at the same time.
“This move represents a natural evolution, aligning our holding structure with our core operations,” Flipkart said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
Flipkart, an e-commerce giant in India, started in 2007 by selling books online. It now competes with Amazon in India.
In 2011, Flipkart moved its main company to Singapore.
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In 2018, Walmart bought a major share in Flipkart. With that deal, it also got control of PhonePe, which was part of Flipkart at the time.
In 2022, PhonePe separated from Flipkart and moved its headquarters from Singapore to India. Because of this move, Walmart had to pay nearly USD 1 billion in taxes.
Walmart is now planning to list both Flipkart and PhonePe on the Indian stock market in the next few years, according to Dan Bartlett, Walmart’s Executive Vice President.
PhonePe, an online payment app, has already started preparing for its stock market listing in India.
Fin-tech startups like Razorpay, Pine Labs, fast delivery company Zepto, and ad tech company InMobi have also moved or are planning to move their base back to India, as per reports.
