Flipkart
Flipkart is burning through cash, offering discounts and festival sales, but has also faced criticism by some customers who said that the offers advertized by the company could not be found on its website. Maral Deghati/AFP/GettyImages

Flipkart, a major player in India's fast-growing online retail segment, is looking to raise another $1.5 billion in a fresh round of funding, The Economic Times reported, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The fund-raising effort is likely to start in January, and Flipkart is drawing up a shortlist of potential investors, according to the report.

Flipkart, which has already raised $1.2 billion this year, would use the money to expand the portfolio of products available on its eponymous website, including packaged food and furniture, the paper said.

Flipkart competes with domestic rivals such as eBay Inc.-backed Snapdeal, in which Japan’s SoftBank Corp. announced a large investment in October, and Amazon Inc., which has committed to $2 billion in investments to expand operations in India.