Walmart Sources USD 40 Billion in Goods from India, Eyes Deeper MSME Partnerships

New Delhi, May 7, Walmart Inc, the American retail behemoth headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, has sourced goods worth over USD 40 billion from India, with its President and CEO John Furner describing the country as one of the most dynamic opportunities in global commerce today.

Furner, who assumed leadership of the world's largest retailer earlier this year in February, is currently on his first visit to India since taking charge. His visit coincides with the hosting of Walmart's second edition of its Growth Summit in New Delhi, a platform designed to bring together export-ready businesses, MSMEs, digital-first brands, and supply chain partners to identify and act on growth opportunities across both domestic and international markets.

"We have already sourced more than USD 40 billion in goods from India and are focused on strengthening entrepreneur and supplier capabilities, raising compliance and quality standards, and helping scale manufacturing so more Indian businesses are ready to export," said Furner in a statement issued by Walmart India.

This milestone builds on the company's earlier announcement committing to source goods from India worth up to USD 10 billion per year by 2027, a target that reflects Walmart's long-term confidence in India's manufacturing and export ecosystem. For context, Walmart had disclosed in February 2024 that it had sourced goods worth over USD 30 billion from India over the preceding two decades for its global operations — marking a significant acceleration in sourcing activity in recent months.

At the heart of Walmart's India strategy is its Vriddhi initiative, a supplier development program specifically designed to help micro, small, and medium enterprises modernise their operations, expand their capacity, and meet global compliance and quality benchmarks. To date, the program has supported the growth of over 1.15 lakh, or 115,000, entrepreneurs across India.

With plans to extend this support to a total of 170,000 MSMEs by 2028, Walmart is systematically building a pipeline of businesses that are both capable and ambitious enough to export to new international markets.

"This work is expanding economic opportunity and connecting innovative businesses in India with customers around the world," Furner added.

The Growth Summit in New Delhi served as a gathering point for industry stakeholders, with Walmart and Flipkart leaders reinforcing the growing and increasingly vital role of Indian businesses in global supply chains. The summit placed particular emphasis on deepening local partnerships and investing in capacity-building efforts that enable Indian suppliers to compete on the world stage.

The New Delhi summit follows a series of regional Growth Summit events held in Jaipur and Coimbatore, both organised in collaboration with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade under the Government of India, and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. These regional events were aimed at strengthening outreach in key MSME clusters, with more such summits planned across the country in the coming year.

Walmart's relationship with India is not limited to sourcing. The company acquired a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart, India's homegrown e-commerce giant, in a landmark USD 16 billion deal in 2018 — one of the largest e-commerce acquisitions globally. More recently, PhonePe, the Walmart-backed fintech company, filed draft papers for its initial public offering, signalling the growing maturity and scale of Walmart's India-linked portfolio.

"Since the 1990s, Walmart has built deep supplier partnerships across India, helping develop long-term export capabilities and contributing to the country's emergence as a key global manufacturing hub," the company's statement noted.

With its Vriddhi program continuing to scale, its sourcing commitments growing, and its institutional footprint deepening through Flipkart and PhonePe, Walmart's engagement with India is evolving well beyond transactional procurement. The company appears firmly positioned to leverage India as a strategic node in its global supply chain architecture — one that combines manufacturing scale, digital innovation, and a vast base of entrepreneurial talent.