WALMART AND AMAZON GO INTO BATTLE IN INDIA

WALMART and Amazon are going head to head in a battle to buy India’s biggest online retailer.

Walmart is expected to confirm the deal for Flipkart later this week, but it is thought Amazon will make a bid.

The American supermarket group and internet retail giant are fighting for dominance in the US, with Walmart ploughing billions into online shopping to compete.

If the Flipkart deal goes ahead, Walmart will own 60pc, while Google’s parent company Alphabet is also paying about £2.2bn for a 15pc stake. It is likely to value Flipkart at between £13bn and £15bn.

Flipkart is Amazon’s biggest rival in India. It was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (no relation), two former Amazon warehouse colleagues. It now has more than 100m registered users and makes around 8m shipments every month.

Walmart will get three seats on Flipkart’s board and will oversee the appointments of the group’s finance, legal and compliance management.

Sachin Bansal is expected to leave Flipkart after the deal is completed.

Walmart is still the world’s biggest retailer, with sales of £370bn a year compared to Amazon’s £131bn ■ Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest individual worth £98bn, but the Walton family who run Walmart are worth £112bn ■ While Amazon...