E-commerce giants Flipkart on Thursday confirmed its plans to acquire online hotel and travel booking platform Cleartrip. The Walmart-owned company said it will acquire a 100% stake in Cleartrip, as it looks to “strengthen its digital commerce offerings for customers”. 

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In a statement, Flipkart said it will acquire all Cleartrip operations, although the travel aggregator will retain all its employees and will continue to operate as a separate brand. The Bengaluru-based firm also said that the deal closing will be subject to applicable regulatory approvals. 

“The Flipkart Group is committed to transforming customer experiences through digital commerce. Cleartrip is synonymous with travel for many customers, and as we diversify and look at new areas of growth, this investment will help strengthen our wide range of offerings for customers,” Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group, said. 

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“We welcome the Cleartrip team with their deep industry knowledge and technology capabilities to the Flipkart Group and look forward to providing deeper value and travel experiences for customers together”. 

While Flipkart has not confirmed the value of the deal, according to earlier news reports, Cleartrip is valued at $40 million deal and the deal is expected to be a mix of cash and equity. The deal is considered a distress sale for the Mumbai-based firm, which has been hard-hit by the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The deal comes at a time when Flipkart and Amazon are pushing hard at diversification and are looking to introduce a range of new services such as travel and hotel bookings, e-pharmacy, etc.