Dear Walmart-Flipkart, we need some answers from you

Will the protagonists in the $16-billion deal answer these 10 questions please?

It’s been a week since the world’s largest M&A deal in the e-commerce space was struck, and curiosity around the transaction has only grown. To help us crack the puzzle of the $16-billion Walmart-Flipkart deal, will the protagonists or the stakeholders answer these 10 questions please?

The first question: Why did the American retail giant Walmart decide to put $16 billion for a controlling stake in a loss-making ecommerce company Flipkart? Surely, it could have done things differently, possibly like Amazon did—starting an online business on its own in India. True that Walmart is no match for Amazon’s international e-commerce expertise,