Andhra Pradesh has urged US retail giant Walmart to widen its sourcing from the state beyond seafood and pharmaceuticals and to onboard local MSMEs, women-led self-help groups and artisans into its domestic and global supply chains.
The push came during a meeting between Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh and Paul Dyck, Senior Vice President, Global Government Affairs and Business Diplomacy at Walmart, on the sidelines of the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam on 12 November 2026. Walmart already buys more than 65 million pounds of shrimp a year from Andhra Pradesh, and also sources pharmaceuticals, textiles and engineering goods from the state.
“Walmart is already one of the largest buyers of Andhra Pradesh shrimp. Now we want them to look at the rest of what our State makes. Our MSMEs, women’s groups and artisans make products of global quality. What they need is a direct line to global buyers, and Walmart and Flipkart can provide it,” Lokesh said in an official statement.
Lokesh suggested that Walmart bring its global buyers to an MSME sourcing event in Andhra Pradesh focused on seafood and textiles, building on the Walmart Growth Summit in New Delhi that connected Indian suppliers with Walmart’s global buying teams. He also proposed that Walmart and Flipkart create a dedicated channel into their domestic and global supply chains for products from women-led SHGs and local artisans, sold under the state’s Swayam AP and Lepakshi brands. Dyck said Walmart would examine the state government’s proposals.
Flipkart’s existing footprint in Andhra Pradesh covers more than 28,000 direct and indirect jobs across a network of over 100 logistics hubs spanning about 12 lakh sq ft of infrastructure, along with 0.33 million sq ft of wholesale space. Under an MoU with the AP MSME Corporation and the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub, more than 3,200 MSMEs have been trained, and over 900 are now selling on the Flipkart and Walmart marketplaces. The state and Walmart Vriddhi had earlier signed a three-year MSME development MoU in November 2025.
