Two of the four proposed sellers are Health & Happiness and Consulting Rooms, according to some representatives. The other two sellers will be registered later in 2016, livemint.com reports.
Along with WS Retail Services, which is Flipkart’s largest third-party seller, the four sellers will help the company spread its sales sufficiently so that it complies with the new FDI rules by the end of 2016.
In late March 2016, the government banned foreign investment in direct online retail but allowed 100% FDI in online sales of goods and services under the so-called marketplace model, seeking to legitimise the existing businesses of ecommerce companies in India.
However, it added two riders that have far-reaching consequences for the firms: marketplaces cannot influence pricing of products and services on their platforms, directly or indirectly; and, one seller cannot contribute more than 25% of sales of any marketplace. These riders will force online retailers to find new ways of offering discounts, and restructure their businesses and Flipkart aims to achieve both objectives with the four proposed sellers.
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