Walmart India fires around 50 executives as part of restructuring: Report

The firings mostly affected executives in the company's real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust.

Walmart Inc, the world's largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The move underscores the struggles Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Ark. based company currently operates 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers.

The firings mostly affected executives in the company's real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said.

"It's happening because focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores)," said one source, who declined to be identified as the decision is not public.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

Walmart has placed bold bets on India's e-commerce sector.

In 2018, it paid $16 billion to acquire a majority stake in India's online marketplace Flipkart, in its biggest global acquisition.

The second source added that while Walmart could slow down the pace of opening new wholesale stores, the focus will increasingly be on boosting sales through business-to-business and retail e-commerce.

Some of the executives were sacked last week and more could be let go on Monday, two sources said.

In a statement to India's Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the news, Walmart said it was always looking for ways to operate more effectively and that "this requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organised in the right way to best meet the needs of our members".

Walmart has around 600 staff in its India head office out of a total of around 5,300 nationally, one of the sources said.

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Walmart to invest Rs 1.8 bn to improve farmers' livelihood in next 5 years

The new funding from the Walmart Foundation expands its ongoing efforts to develop and scale strong farmer producer organisations to help raise rural incomes.

Business Standard : As part of its initiative to support sustainable livelihood for farmers in India, the Walmart Foundation Thursday announced investment of Rs 1.8 billion over the next five years in the country.

"The Walmart Foundation, working beyond the Walmart India supply chain, will invest approximately Rs 1.8 billion ($25 million) to improve farmers' livelihood over the next five years," Walmart International CEO Judith McKenna said.

She was speaking at a meeting with local farmers in Kasimpur village on the outskirts of the state capital.

Walmart India CEO Krish Iyer, Walmart India Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar and Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal accompanied McKenna when she toured a vegetable farm and evinced keen interest in the cultivation going on there. Walmart Vice President of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs Paul Dyck was also present.

The high-level delegation Wednesday discussed with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath various matters related to investment by Walmart in the state.

At the meeting, the chief minister spoke about focussing on agriculture sourcing, food processing industry and One District One Product (ODOP) to support local traditional art forms.

McKenna Thursday said Walmart India will grow its direct sourcing from farmers to 25 per cent of produce sold in its 'Cash & Carry' stores over the same period to ensure more income to them and to cut down the role of middlemen.

Besides, it will lead to accelerated market access and reduction in transportation costs for producers, she said.

Walmart will also seek to source from a local farmer producer organisation in every state where it has stores.

Deepening its commitment to smallholder farmers in the country, she said these farmers are the backbone of the Indian economy, with more than 50 per cent of the total workforce employed in the sector.

This, she said, is aimed at bolstering the efforts of the NDA government at the Centre to improve food security in the country and boost the overall economy and to meet the ambitious goal to double farmers' income by 2022...Read More