Amazon, Walmart Struggle to Cope as India Enters Lockdown

India’s largest online retailers including Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart and Alibaba-backed fresh grocery delivery service BigBasket are facing severe disruptions and shutdowns, after authorities announced some of the strictest coronavirus-related restrictions in the world.

The country’s 1.3 billion people are in a three-week lockdown, sending many to scour the web for food and daily essentials. But unlike in China, where online fresh grocery services offered a lifeline during its Covid-19 outbreak, Indian authorities are stopping food trucks on highways, and shutting down warehouses and rice mills. They’re also preventing delivery and supply-chain workers from doing their jobs, sometimes through use of force.