Walmart-backed PhonePe winds down its Pincode app in yet another e-commerce step back

In its latest retreat from India’s crowded online retail market, Walmart-backed fintech giant PhonePe has wound down its Pincode e-commerce app and will shift the business toward B2B services for offline merchants.

On Thursday, PhonePe founder and group CEO Sameer Nigam said operating a consumer-facing quick-commerce app had become a distraction from the company’s core focus on small retailers. The company instead wants to concentrate on helping stores “achieve operational efficiency, improved margins and visibility,” he said, citing this…