Walmart CEO says that the Walmart-Flipkart acquisition deal is good for the growth of Indian economy.
Mitigating concerns around its $ 16 billion takeover of India's largest electronic commerce company, Flipkart, Walmart Inc on Thursday said that the deal is good for the economic stability of the country as it will create a perfect environment for millions of job creation.
"It's pretty clear that this deal is good for customers and would create jobs and help society", said Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon.
When asked about not being able to meet Prime Minister Modi or any other senior officials after announcing the world's biggest e-commerce deal, McMillon said that he has had meetings with the Indian officials in the past and would have them in future also. "The meeting is not the most important thing. We don't need a photo-op", he said.
Soon after the deal was announced on Thursday, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an RSS-affiliate organisation alleged that Walmart was 'circumventing' rules for a 'back-door-entry' into India. The organisation also sought Prime Minister's intervention to safeguard 'national interest'. "The deal will further eliminate small and medium businesses and the opportunity to create more jobs. Most of these small entrepreneurs are already battling for their existence; entry of Walmart will further create problems for them", the organisation said in its letter to the prime minister.
However McMillon said that deal would provide the perfect platform for a large number of job creation in the country."There is an opportunity over a period of years to generate another 10 million jobs. I don't want to put a timeline but we have analysis to show that," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the world's largest retail giant Walmart Inc. announced that it was buying 77 percent equity stake in Flipkart.
The deal, under which Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal and Japan's Softbank Corp Group are exiting, values Flipkart at USD 20.8 billion. It is also the biggest Mergers and Acqusition (M&A) deal in India this year.
