Walmart seeks fair play in global game, says CEO

Time of India

7 hours ago

Walmart Inc
president and chief executive officer
Doug McMillon
said the US-based retail giant would like to have a level playing field and consistency in policy wherever it has a presence, adding that the current tariff turmoil is something that it can navigate better than any other company.
'We operate in a lot of countries and that is what we ask for everywhere (a level playing field), and that's consistent,' McMillon said, when asked about India.
'We engage with lots of different governments and, in those conversations, we share with them what we think should be changed to enable us to better serve customers. But we don't set the rules, and we will be compliant with the rules, whatever those are.'
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We like to buy locally, create jobs
The Donald Trump administration intends to press India to give online retailers such as Amazon and Walmart full access to its $125 billion
ecommerce market
, the Financial Times reported in April.
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Both countries are in negotiations on a
bilateral trade agreement
(BTA) that they are trying to finalise by next month.
McMillon, 58, said Walmart is not involved in trade talks as those are held between governments.
India doesn't allow ecommerce firms such as Amazon and Walmart-owned
Flipkart
to hold stocks or sell directly to consumers. Locally owned companies such as the units of Reliance Retail and the Tata Group don't face such curbs.
'The more things can be clear and transparent, the better it is from a business point of view,' McMillon said. 'Businesses like consistency and predictability, whether it's in this country or around the world.'
Asked how soon it would like to have a model that allows Flipkart to hold inventory in India, McMillon said the company wants to be able to serve customers as well as possible.
'We carry inventory in our businesses around the world. It's a challenge to do that well—we like doing it,' he said.
'It's one area that we have expertise in. And if the rules allowed it, we would be happy about that, but we will leave the choice of what the rules are to someone else.'
Walmart will be able to manage the tariff situation, thanks to its sourcing capabilities, he added.
'There was a group of tariffs that were put in place back in 2018—we have been dealing with those,' McMillon said, referring to levies imposed by the previous Trump administration.
'Walmart can manage that situation better than anyone. We have a lot of creative and experienced merchants who can make different choices. Over the years, we have worked on where merchandise comes from.
We like to buy locally. We like the benefits of creating jobs for customers by buying locally. We like the benefits of a shorter lead time. That's easier with food and consumables than it is with general merchandise.'
Keeping a lid on the cost of living is a priority.
'We want to see low prices,' McMillon said.
'The purpose of our company is to help people save money and live better—low prices are in our DNA. We want to do everything we can, whether it's our own actions or the actions of others to try and create the best possible value for customers.
We are bothered by that (tariff situation), I am just saying that we will manage it as well as anyone, and we'll make sure that we have a price gap relative to our competitors so that customers find value with us in every country where we operate.'
Walmart will announce the next goal for India once it reaches the target of annually sourcing goods worth $10 billion from the country by 2027.
'It's encouraging to see what's happening here,' McMillon said.
'We are seeing the breadth of categories expand. When we initially set that goal, we had a smaller number of categories involved, but that's expanded.'
The company will continue to source from India and China.