Walmart-Owned Flipkart Suspends Services In India Amid COVID-19 Concerns

As India goes on lockdown for the next 21 days, Flipkart has announced it’s suspending delivery services across the country.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced that the country would be entering a 21-day long lockdown to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the effects of this lockdown are starting to show, even in e-commerce.

Walmart-owned online retailer and Amazon India competitor, Flipkart, has announced a temporary suspension of all delivery services. As a result of this, the e-commerce giant’s site is also closed and all products have been labeled ‘out of stock.’

There is no news as to when Flipkart’s services will resume, but the company promises to “be back to serve [users], as soon as possible.”

As India goes on lockdown amid COVID-19 fears, e-commerce giants like Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart are seeing major disruptions to their business but are taking steps to protect people.

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Despite the suspension of delivery services, Flipkart will still allow bill payments and video streaming services – both do not need delivery personnel to continue.

On the other hand, Amazon India hasn’t shut down delivery services, yet, but is giving priority to all “products that are currently high priority” for its customers. Similarly, many “other products are now also temporarily unavailable for purchase.”

This has been in line with its international operations.