After a troublesome offline retail stint with Bharti Enterprises which ended last year, US retail giant Walmart is looking to set up an e-commerce marketplace in India, reports The Economic Times citing sources familiar with the company's plans. It says Walmart has setup a team of more than 15 people headed by Walmart India COO Arvind Mediratta and the marketplace is expected to go live in the next three to four months. What's interesting here is that in an emailed statement to ET, the Walmart India spokesperson requests the Indian government to allow foreign investments in e-commerce, indicating that the company might have plans for direct retail and will probably adopt a hybrid marketplace model later. Walmart has however declined to confirm this development to the publication. Update: Walmart has shared the following boilerplate response with Medianama: We do not comment on rumors or speculation. Walmart is committed to India and the market. We are pleased with our established and successful cash and carry business and plan to grow that business. We continue to study the feasibility of the FDI policy and remain steadfast in our belief in the important value Walmart brings to India, including social and environmental benefits. We would like to serve our customers in ways that can help them save money and live better. Our experiences worldwide support the fact that eCommerce is an important and growing area that meets our customers shopping needs. Toward this, we encourage the Government of India to consider opening ecommerce for FDI Remember that Walmart's competitor Amazon India…
