Flipkart, the largest e-commerce company in India with a valuation of $36 billion, is getting ready for an IPO in the upcoming year with a specific schedule of 12 to 15 months. The planned IPO, which is probably the biggest share sale by a new economy company, will be a watershed moment for the country's startup sector, which is currently the third largest in the world.
The Walmart-owned company is aiming for a public sale of shares by the end of the upcoming calendar year or in the first quarter of 2026 after obtaining internal permissions to relocate its headquarters from Singapore to India, which is considered a prelude to an IPO.
"The process has begun and there is clear understanding that in this timeline the company should be public," according to the report.
Flipkart's India IPO will be the first of approximately a dozen new-age companies to list on the stock exchanges in 2025. This follows the successful IPO of a slew of consumer internet companies, including Zomato, Nykaa, and Swiggy, which have aroused retail investor interest in Indian businesses.
The massive online retailer raised over $1 billion in funding this year, including $350 million from Google. Although it has been actively discussing IPO preparations since late 2021, the negotiations were halted in 2022–2023 because of the unfavorable market conditions.
However, the Bengaluru-based company's public share sale has increased due to the recent surge of consumer firms' IPOs in India. When Walmart purchased the bulk of Flipkart in 2018, this was also covered under the deal.
"Global peers like South Korea's Coupang have made strong recovery in public markets in the last year or so, setting the stage for ecommerce valuation multiples," the report said, noting that Indian public markets have been rewarding large internet businesses that are growing and have a clear path to profit.
