John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart, emphasized India’s significant role in global commerce, citing it as a dynamic opportunity. Walmart has already procured over $40 billion worth of goods from India, focusing on enhancing entrepreneur and supplier capabilities, ensuring compliance, and elevating quality standards. This effort aims to boost manufacturing scalability for Indian businesses to expand their export readiness.
The ‘Walmart Growth Summit–India 2026’ witnessed Walmart’s ‘Vriddhi Supplier Development Programme’ training more than 115,000 MSMEs in India since its inception in 2019. By 2028, the program aims to support a total of 170,000 MSMEs, nurturing their potential to venture into new markets. The event highlighted the increasing participation of Indian businesses in global supply chains and stressed the significance of local partnerships and capacity building initiatives.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group CEO of Flipkart Group, underscored the transformative impact of technology and digital commerce on millions of small businesses and local communities in India. Initiatives like Flipkart Samarth and Walmart Vriddhi are instrumental in enhancing capabilities, expanding market access, and facilitating business growth on both domestic and global fronts. The focus remains on fostering an inclusive and empowering commerce ecosystem in India.
The Walmart event attracted over 5,000 registrations, showcasing a keen interest among sellers to join the Walmart Marketplace and tap into the US and international customer base. Export-ready businesses, MSMEs, digital-first brands, and supply chain partners participated in the event to explore growth avenues in both domestic and global markets.
