Walmart boosts local MSME sourcing ahead of Diwali, shuns plastic packaging

US-based retail biggie Walmart has bolstered the local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) procurement ahead of Diwali, a senior company official said here today.

The local MSME sourcing is to cater both Diwali gifting options and staple consumer and food items.

“We are getting good ‘Diwali’ response as we expand our basket of locally-sourced goods in Uttar Pradesh and other states, especially for Diwali gifting,” Walmart India vice president (Operations North) Vijeet Singh Shekhawat said in Lucknow this afternoon.

He said the company was sourcing a range of food items made in UP, including pickles, wheat flour, jams and sweet items, apart from traditional handicraft goods such as brassware from Moradabad and aluminium items from Hathras. Indigenous goods were also being sourced from Jaipur, Panipat, Sholapur and Ahmedabad, among other places.