NEW DELHI: Walmart India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of American multinational retail corporation Walmart Inc, has endorsed India's continuing rise as a global manufacturing hub and has committed to nearly triple its exports from India to 10 billion dollars each year by 2027.

According to a statement by Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon, India is already among Walmart's top sourcing markets for products such as jewelry and home ware, with annual exports of about $3 billion. 

“By significantly accelerating our annual India exports in the coming years, we are supporting the 'Make-in-India' initiative, helping more local businesses reach international customers, while creating jobs and prosperity at home in India," he said.

According to McMillion, Walmart's commitment to deeper sourcing from India across categories such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumables and apparel  is aimed at empowering nearly  50,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to ‘Make in India’ for domestic and global supply chains over five years.

At the core of this commitment is Flipkart's Samarth and Walmart Vriddhi supplier development program launched a year ago which brings knowledge and skills to local MSMEs so that they are trained and ready to produce globally accept products.

Walmart Inc, acquired about 77 per cent of Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart for roughly $16 billion in 2018, marking the biggest deal for India's e-commerce sector.