Walmart’s Flipkart to re-apply for food retail license in India

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Walmart Inc’s Indian e-commerce unit Flipkart said on Monday it would re-apply for a food retail license in India after reports said its earlier proposal was rejected by the government last week.

India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) last week rejected the e-tailer’s proposal to sell food products through online and mobile platforms, the Times of India newspaper reported https://bit.ly/2XNtkhc on Monday.

“We are evaluating the department’s response and intend to re-apply as we look to continue making a significant impact on small businesses and communities in India,” the company said in a statement.

If successful, Flipkart would compete with Amazon.com Inc’s India unit, Alibaba-backed BigBasket, SoftBank-backed <9984.T> Grofers, and Reliance Industries Ltd’s recently launched JioMart.

(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)