Flipkart, the Walmart-backed ecommerce player, is ramping up its hiring and innovation engines as it navigates a fast-changing digital retail landscape.

In a recent internal townhall dubbed Flipster Connect, CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and CHRO Seema Nair announced plans to onboard at least 5,000 new employees in 2025. Most of these roles will be tied to its growing quick commerce platform, Flipkart Minutes, and its fintech arm, Super.money.

The hiring spree comes despite prevailing market uncertainties and reflects Flipkart’s bullish stance on growth areas such as artificial intelligence and fast delivery. As Krishnamurthy told employees, the company has seen a sixfold increase in AI investments – a move aligned with its broader digital transformation strategy.

This fresh wave of recruitment coincides with Flipkart’s expansion of its dark store network – the small, strategically placed warehouses that power ultra-fast delivery. The company is eyeing 800 dark stores by the end of 2025, up from over 400 currently operational across 14 Indian cities.

Flipkart entered the quick commerce race just last year, going head-to-head with established players such as Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, and BigBasket’s BB Now. The race is heating up, and Flipkart is not content to play catch-up. In fact, Krishnamurthy described the Minutes business as “doing well” and reaffirmed the company’s focus on profitability without losing sight of customer experience.

Flipping back to India, with growth in sight

Amid all this, Flipkart is also in the middle of a strategic pivot: relocating its legal domicile from Singapore to India, a move that brings its corporate structure in line with its operational reality. “This move represents a natural evolution,” the company stated last month, pointing to India’s vast economic potential, supportive regulatory environment, and Flipkart’s long-term commitment to the country.

Krishnamurthy said he is confident the company can continue to balance profitability with a renewed focus on being customer-first – a mantra that is becoming especially critical as Flipkart eyes an IPO, likely in 2026.

The Walmart camp is firmly backing this approach. Kathryn McLay, CEO of Walmart International, recently reiterated that the retail giant isn’t sacrificing market share or future potential at the altar of short-term profit. “We’re not so focused on profitability that we would trade off market share and growth for the future,” she said. “We will get there at the right time.”

Speed is the new currency

McLay also gave a candid look into Flipkart’s rapid evolution in the fast delivery space. A year ago, the company’s delivery promise was one to two days. Today, it boasts a 15-minute delivery commitment – and in some cases, even as quick as three minutes. “Those capabilities ... are kinda mind-blowing,” she said, describing the transformation as both impressive and essential in the path to profitability.

Quick commerce, by her estimate, now makes up 20% of India’s e-commerce market and is growing at a 50% clip. And Walmart wants to be in the thick of it.

Interestingly, Flipkart’s playbook for this rapid scaling drew inspiration from Walmart’s China operations. When the CEO asked McLay where they could learn about speed and fulfilment, she pointed him eastward. “He sent a team over … they understood and learned from that,” she recalled.

Since then, Flipkart has been fine-tuning its delivery model – experimenting with square footage, proximity of dark stores, delivery partner networks, and order velocity. McLay hinted that these learnings may be looped back into other markets, signalling Flipkart’s emerging role as an innovation testbed within Walmart’s global footprint.

The Myntra edge and AI as a growth lever

Beyond fast delivery, McLay also highlighted Myntra, Flipkart’s fashion marketplace, as “one of the hidden gems” in the business. The platform’s strengths lie in its ability to offer personalised and customised fashion experiences – a growing differentiator in the increasingly crowded ecommerce space.

On the technology front, Flipkart is placing heavy bets on AI. With investments up 6X, it’s clear the company sees AI as a lever to sharpen operations, enhance personalisation, and fuel its fintech ambitions via Super.money.

IPO ambitions and capital muscle

To support its growth engines, Flipkart has been securing significant capital infusions from its Singapore-based parent. In recent months, it has raised more than $644 million. These cash reserves are likely to bankroll its expansion in quick commerce, bolster its tech backbone, and prepare for the road to IPO.

Flipkart’s game plan is to aim to grow fast, innovate faster, and use India’s booming digital economy as a launchpad for the future. With an IPO on the horizon, Flipkart is moving swiftly to shore up its operations, win over new customers, and build a business model that doesn’t just chase trends, but shapes them.

For business and HR leaders, this signals a strong appetite for talent skilled in AI, logistics, product personalisation, and digital payments. As the e-commerce battlefield tilts toward lightning-fast fulfilment and high-tech efficiency, Flipkart is betting big on agility – both human and machine-powered – to stay ahead of the curve.