Amazon's India Unit Sees 56 Percent Rise in Export Merchants

Amazon.com's India unit saw a 56 percent rise in the number of local merchants selling to international markets, hitting export sales of over $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,000 crores), the company said on Tuesday.

Indian merchants were exporting more than 140 million products on Amazon's app and website, with cumulative sales expected to top $5 billion (roughly Rs. 35,000 crores) in the next four years, country head Amit Agarwal told reporters in Bengaluru.

Amazon launched its Global Selling Program in 2015, as part of its efforts to get more small-and-medium sized vendors on board. Vendor consolidation is key in India, which is among the Seattle-based company's top growth markets.

More than 80 percent of the company's current export vendors were from small towns and cities, vice president of seller services Gopal Pillai said.

Amazon is fighting with Walmart's Flipkart for market share in the country, while dealing with constantly changing government rules.

In February, a new set of e-commerce regulations caused widespread disruption on Amazon's India website, when products started disappering from its virtual shelves for some time.

Agrawal said Amazon was fully compliant with government regulations.

© Thomson Reuters 2019