Walmart gets $1 bln tax bill for shifting PhonePe headquarters to India

Walmart Inc and other PhonePe shareholders will have to pay nearly $1 billion in tax after the digital payments company shifted its headquarters to India, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday,…

Walmart gets $1 bln tax bill for shifting PhonePe headquarters to India

BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc and

other PhonePe shareholders will have to pay nearly $1 billion in

tax after the digital payments company shifted its headquarters

to India, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people

familiar with the matter. PhonePe is raising funds at a $12 billion pre-money

valuation from General Atlantic, Qatar Investment Authority and

others, triggering the hefty charge, according to the report. The fintech firm was last valued at around $5.5 billion in

December 2020, based on multiple media reports. Investors including Tiger Global Management have now

purchased shares of PhonePe in India at the new price, leading

to tax implications of roughly 80 billion Indian rupees

($966.13 million) for existing shareholders, Bloomberg News

reported. PhonePe, Walmart and Tiger Global did not immediately

respond to Reuters requests for comment. Walmart said last month it had completed the separation of

PhonePe from Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart, adding that it

would remain a majority stakeholder in both the companies.

($1 = 82.8050 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak

Dasgupta)