PhonePe relocation to India: Walmart pays most of the $1 billion tax

New Delhi: Walmart Inc late on Wednesday confirmed that it has paid nearly $1 billion in tax dues to the Indian government after PhonePe moved its headquarters from Singapore to India. The US retailer owns the digital payments company through Flipkart.

Walmart acquired a majority stake in e-commerce giant Flipkart in 2018, giving it ownership of PhonePe. The company last month informed that it has completed the demerger of PhonePe from Flipkart, and said it will continue to be the majority stakeholder in both the companies.

Walmart paid 78 billion rupees ($943.01 million) in capital gains tax after PhonePe investors sold their stake in the Singapore unit and invested in the Indian unit.

This was confirmed by a PhonePe spokesperson, who said it was the “right long-term strategy” for Walmart and other investors to foot the capital gains tax bill.

PhonePe was valued at $5.5 billion in December 2020 after a $700 million funding round from Walmart, when it was based in Singapore. Last month reports says that the Indian e-commerce major would divest all its stake in the restructured entity PhonePe India. Flipkart previously held 87 per cent stake in the payments company.