Some cities have “Big Bazaar” which is similar to a Walmart (smaller though, the Indian market doesn’t have the variety of brands and products other countries do). There certainly are a lot of other similar stores. A more American thing that isn't readily available is like a Costco, bulk shopping would be pretty tough there, and people are fine to go out on a more regular basis to pick up fresh milk/veggies.

No American big box retailer will ever be built. Indian government doesn’t allow foreign companies to come in and set up shop very easily (at best they can get in with 49% ownership like Starbucks/Tata). Additionally the logistics situation is very different. Less ports, roads between cities built differently than USA, traffic across states is not a right like USA and various restrictions/inspections/fees can occur. It’s worth keeping an eye on IKEA’s expansion specifically in India. They really want to grow the marketshare, they have the right price points, and people seem to genuinely like and want them around. But lots of artificial hurdles which i suspect are caused by local traders/shops knowing how much business IKEA will take from them.

Indian Amazon is approaching the utility of American Amazon and are pretty good about taking advantage of the existing couriers and air cargo which takes care of some of the interstate logistics I mentioned. The funniest part to me is that every individual item you order comes with it’s own delivery person, there isn’t yet much work to consolidate packages. The current generation is growing up with Amazon though and I anticipate many future improvements.

I also see a dead comment in this thread saying India doesn't have malls... I've never seen more malls in an area than I have in big Indian cities. A lot of them are pretty good!

Source: many extended visits to india

We actually have D-Mart and they are quite huge but not comparable to Walmart. These are present at multiple locations in tier-1 cities but are hardly present in tier-2 cities. The thing is even though these are very popular they are not shutting down local shops in the region that they are located. The sheer demand is so high that people get things from local shops instead of standing in long queues at D-mart.

To answer your question, yes Walmart can happen but it has to be ready for some serious competition because other than D-mart other big player JioMart backed by Reliance has entered this space recently.

Yes, there is a company called Dmart and they are doing really well. Recently one opened in my area and local shop owner mentioned that it is killing their business. People are flocking to Dmart for discounts.

Not op, but Walmart owns Flipkart so I think that is their play for India expansion.

One of the challenges is real estate and parking. Most major Indian cities are extremely crowded with little in the way of parking space or affordable commercial land. Most large stores in major population areas invariably have to pivot to the higher-end to justify the real estate costs.

Driving out 45 minutes just to buy groceries seems futile since every neighbourhood will have dozens of grocery stores that will deliver right at your doorstep (and now, half a dozen quick delivery apps too).