Flipkart clocks 25% growth in FY21 revenue at Rs 43,357 cr; losses drop 23%
Flipkart India Private Limited, the Walmart-owned e-commerce firm, reported its revenues for the financial year 2020-21 as Rs 43,357 crore, a 25 per cent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 2,445 crore during the same fiscal. This is a 23 per cent decrease from the last financial year, showed regulatory documents sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 45,801 crore.
The company has forayed into the omnichannel business through its business-to-business marketplace, according to the documents.
In another filing, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, which operates as an online shopping website, reported its revenues for the financial year 2020-21 as Rs 8,115 crore, a 28 per cent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 2,881 crore during the same fiscal. This is a 49 per cent increase from the last financial year, according to Tofler. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 10,996 crore.
The revenue of the company was mainly generated from e-commerce, IT-enabled services, marketplace and related support services. Foreign exchange expenditure for FY21, was Rs 1731 crore compared to Rs 558 crore in FY20.
Flipkart is in a fierce battle with rivals such as Amazon, Reliance’s JioMart and Tata-backed BigBasket for dominance in India’s online retail market. E-commerce firms such as Flipkart, Amazon, and others witnessed blockbuster festive season sales of about $9.2 billion in 2021 surpassing the pre-pandemic sales of $5 billion witnessed during the festive month in 2019.
The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce, with an increasing number of consumers shopping online at a higher frequency than last year, according to analysts.
The year 2021 saw India witness its biggest ever Festive Sales with brands clocking a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $9.2 billion through online channels over this period, according to consulting firm RedSeer’s e-commerce festive season report. RedSeer came close in predicting this figure with its forecast of $9.6 billion for this year’s GMV falling within just a 5 per cent range of the actual figure ($9.2 billion).
As has been the case for the last five years or so, online festive sales in India continued to grow at a blistering pace and saw a 23 per cent year-over-year growth in GMV.
The overall online shopper base grew by nearly 25 per cent compared to last year with 57 per cent of the total shoppers coming from tier-2+ cities. This meant that last year’s festive sales were dictated by affordability schemes.
Last year in December, Flipkart India and Walmart, also announced a fresh round of joint strategic investment of $145 million in supply chain tech firm Ninjacart, which is focusing on India’s fresh produce market to organise the agriculture ecosystem.
According to the sources, Flipkart is eyeing a $50-billion valuation through its initial public offering (IPO) in the US by next year. This would be the biggest IPO in the consumer tech space in India.
To create an interim event and set the stage, in July last year, Flipkart Group carved a niche for itself in the global league by raising $3.6 billion, including from SoftBank, which had exited the firm, valuing the company at $37.6 billion, which is more than a 50 per cent rise in a year.
Flipkart’s initial public offering (IPO) is on the cards said Brett Biggs, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Walmart, recently, but he did not reveal any timeline to it.
Rival company Amazon Seller Services Private Limited reported its revenues for the financial year 2020-21 as Rs 16,379 crore, a 49 per cent jump since the last financial year. The company further reported a net loss of Rs 4,748 cr during the same fiscal, according to Tofler. This is a 19 per cent decrease from the last financial year. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 21,127 crore.
Also, Amazon Wholesale (India) Private Limited, reported its revenues for the financial year 2020-21 as Rs 3,143 cr, a 7 per cent fall since the last financial year, according to Tofler. The company further reported a net profit of Rs 43 crore during the same fiscal. This is a 132 per cent increase from the last financial year. The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 3,098 crore.
