President and CEO Walmart Judith McKenna visits Flipkart

President and CEO Walmart International Judith McKenna visited Flipkart to celebrate the first anniversary of the partnership between the two companies, the city-headquartered e-commerce firm said Friday. Judith visited India for an internal business trip from April 30 to May 3, which was a chance for her to interact with Flipkart Group leadership and employees in celebrating the one-year anniversary of the partnership with Walmart, Flipkart said in a release.

She was accompanied by Richard Mayfield, CFO Walmart International and Leigh Hopkins, International Strategy & Business Development Head, it said. Walmart Inc in May last year had announced that it is buying 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for about USD 16 billion (Rs 1.05 lakh crore), its biggest deal which will give the US retailer access to an Indian e-commerce market that is estimated to grow to USD 200 billion within a decade.

The company said Judith praised the "creativity and passion" of the team and commended the leadership for its commitment to bringing e-commerce to more Indian consumers to make their lives better. She was "delighted" to seeFlipkartexcelling by leveraging its homegrown innovations, cutting-edge technology and deep customer centricity and making the most of synergies with Walmart as it seeks to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online.

"Flipkarts partnership with Walmart is helping the Group better serve Indian customers and accelerate its growth with products and solutions that solve real problems in the country. These include supply-chain infrastructure that is disrupting the industry to benefit local consumers, suppliers and manufacturers, "FlipkartGroup CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. During the trip, Judith also met withFlipkartemployees at the itshead office and with PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam and his leadership team at the PhonePe office.

At a townhall with PhonePe staff, Judith said she appreciated the work they were doing to revolutionise financial payments through technology, the release said, adding that Walmart India CEO Krish Iyer also met Judith to update her on how the cash-and-carry business is changing the lives of kiranas in India.

(With inputs from agencies.)