Flipkart Faces Fresh Insolvency Plea Over Alleged Payment Default

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Bengaluru bench has reportedly issued a notice to ecommerce giant Flipkart after its former marketing service provider Applabs Media Pvt Ltd filed an insolvency petition alleging unpaid dues of ₹1.69 Cr. 

As per a Live Law report, the service provider claims that it delivered the agreed services and raised three invoices collectively worth ₹1.69 Cr, which were payable within 45 days. However, it claims that the dues remain outstanding. 

Inc42 has reached out to Flipkart to get comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the responses.

The NCLT bench, comprising Justice Mahendra Khandelwal and Radhakrishna Sreepada, heard the plea, which was filed under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). It has issued the notice to the ecommerce giant. 

As per Applabs Media, the dispute traces its origins back to 2019 when it entered a marketing agreement with Flipkart. Under this, Applabs was engaged to run cost-per-transaction digital marketing campaigns for Flipkart across mobile applications and other online platforms. 

For evidence, it submitted an email dated May 8, 2023, and a reconciliation statement shared on May 15, 2023, which indicate that Flipkart had acknowledged the liability.

Notably, the tribunal has not admitted the insolvency petition yet but sent a notice to Flipkart to seek responses. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on July 14, 2026.

The latest plea comes just three months after Flipkart faced a similar allegation. In March, affiliate marketing services provider Netambit Value First Services Pvt Ltd reportedly initiated insolvency proceedings against the ecommerce giant, alleging a payment default of ₹4.37 Cr.

For Flipkart, the lawsuits come at a time when heightened business activity. Over the past few months, the Walmart-owned company has been eyeing expansion into the food delivery space as well as the ticketing and live event businesses space. 

Simultaneously, the company is aggressively working on expanding its presence in the quick commerce segment, with reports surfacing of it mulling to launch a separate app for its quick delivery arm, Minutes.

The business scale up bid aligns with Flipkart’s long standing plans to go public in India. After reverse flipping to India, the company was said to be eyeing a pre-IPO funding round worth $2 Bn to $2.5 Bn.

According to reports, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has met bankers across the US, Singapore and London, including firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, to discuss the potential fundraise and IPO plans. 

However, the result of the discussions were not favourable to the company’s public listing plans. As per reports, the ecommerce major has deferred its IPO till at least 2028. 

The deferment came on the back of Walmart nudging the company to focus on achieving EBITDA breakeven in FY27 before undertaking any further fundraising activities. 

In its last disclosed financials for FY25, Flipkart’s market place arm managed to narrow its net loss by 37% to ₹1,494 Cr from ₹2,359 Cr a year earlier. It also reported a 14% increase in its FY25 operating revenue to ₹20,493 Cr from ₹17,907 Cr in FY24.

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