The Durbar Hall at the Taj Palace in New Delhi resembled a mini marketplace on Tuesday morning. Curated exhibits from Flipkart, Flipkart Minutes, Myntra, PhonePe, Shopsy, Cleartrip and Walmart Global Tech among others were on showcase as Walmart Global CEO and President Doug McMillon strolled around throwing a question here, a remark there.

Halting at one counter with some jewellery on view, he quizzed the lady there, “My wife’s birthday is coming up. Which of these items would you recommend? Are all your products made in India?“  Nisha Nair, Founder of Bengaluru-based Yamini Lifestyles was only too happy to answer his questions.

Nair is one among thousands of MSME owners trained through the Walmart Vriddhi Supplier Development Programme.  McMillon also complimented Bala Sarda, Founder & CEO of Vahdam, an international seller for Walmart, on the tea brand’s strong growth trajectory in recent years. 

On a whirlwind two-day trip to India, this was an important pitstop for the retail giant’s CEO as he spent time interacting with suppliers, sellers, MSMEs as well as the India business teams of Flipkart, Walmart and PhonePe  during the event.

Business target

Addressing the gathering, he re-affirmed Walmart’s ambition to source $10 billion worth of goods from India annually. “It’s rare to have such a big economy growing so fast and creating so many opportunities for so many and we want to be part of that process to strengthen the country, to serve its citizens, and to demonstrate that we’re a trusted partner across all the broad dimensions,” he said.

McMillon, a frequent visitor to the country, who likened the India story to an unfolding movie that gets more and more interesting, described how Walmart started out here by sourcing products across limited categories over two decades ago. “But look at what’s happened with our sourcing business.. now we have this goal of getting to $10 billion a year and together with the supplier community, we’re working to achieve that,” he said. In 2020, Walmart had announced its goal to triple annual sourcing from India by 2027.

McMillon also touched upon the journey of two Walmart acquisitions - Flipkart and Phonepe, “We’re really learning a lot from those businesses.. the ability to innovate, move with speed, serve more and more customers, develop sellers, build an E-Commerce marketplace business that has a really bright future and the chance to create a lot of opportunity for everyone.”

Published on June 24, 2025