Walmart still fascinated by India’s middle-class

Chennai: Despite the recent regulatory changes, Walmart finds India to be an important growth market. However, it is disappointed with laws changing quickly.

"We will have legislation changes, we know that and you work your way through it. It is disappointing that you have a law like that changed that quickly, but we have made the adjustments and we are moving forward," said Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Briggs said at Raymond James Institutional Investors Broker conference call on Tuesday.

When you make investment in India, note, things are going to change. They did the first time we were in India and they will again, we know that. We knew that going into an investment…in the long term this is still a great opportunity for Walmart," Biggs said.

The government had come out with a new set of regulations for FDI-funded e-commerce marketplaces in December and this had come into effect in February. The norms prohibited marketplaces selling products from affiliates and stipulated that such entities cannot exercise ownership or control over inventory. The norms also barred e-commerce companies from entering into pacts for the exclusive sale of products.

Global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley had warned earlier that Walmart may exit Flipkart in a similar move to what Amazon did in China if the retail giant can't see a long-term path to profitability after implementing the FDI rules.

The brokerage firm had said in a report: "an exit (by Walmart) is likely, and not completely out of the question, with the Indian e-commerce market becoming more complicated".