Amazon launched its first shopping website in India on June 5, 2013, selling only books at the time. It had just about 100 sellers and a small warehouse in Mumbai. The sellers would bring their inventory in their vehicles to the warehouse because it didn’t have transportation. From that small warehouse, the firm now has about 43 million cubic feet of space and over 1.2 million sellers.

The search for builders in the India team began a few years before the actual launch date for Amazon.in was decided. They’d grown up in India, understood the country’s unique nuances, knew the Amazon culture well, and were driven by the opportunity to meaningfully impact lives and livelihoods in the country. Many Amazon employees also returned from Seattle, inspired by the idea of digitising India.

When Amazon.in went live on June 5, 2013, common wisdom suggested that Amazon would bring its global playbook to India, tweak it slightly, and make it work. But the Indian marketplace was built differently from the start and was unlike Amazon in other parts of the world.

“India remains an important priority for Amazon,” said Amit Agarwal, SVP for Emerging Markets. “We have a strong local leadership bench, and along with Samir’s experiences across Emerging Markets, I am even more optimistic about our future plans to deliver for customers and the business in India.”

With this change, the current Amazon.in leadership team of Saurabh Srivastava (Categories), Harsh Goyal (Everyday Essentials), Amit Nanda (Marketplace), and Aastha Jain (Growth Initiatives) will now report to Samir Kumar. Kishore Thota (Emerging Markets Shopping Experience) will report directly to Amit.

An alumnus of National Institute of Technology Rourkela and Utah State University, Kumar is working closely with Manish Tiwary on the transition. He will assume operational responsibilities for India starting October 1. Currently, Kumar is based in Seattle.

With the new role, Kumar faces a significant challenge. Amazon is in a fierce battle with rivals such as Walmart-owned Flipkart, Reliance’s JioMart, and Tata for a substantial share of India’s booming e-commerce market, which is expected to reach $350 billion by 2030.

Kumar’s focus will be on vernacular language and a voice-based shopping platform aimed at being inclusive and accessible to the next 500 million users, primarily residing in “Bharat”—India’s small towns and cities. Besides its streaming video and music services, Amazon has launched miniTV, a free, ad-supported video streaming service for Amazon app users in India who are looking for short films.

Amazon has invested around $6.5 billion in its e-commerce business in India.

However, Amazon has also been facing various challenges in the country, and Kumar will have to play a key role in addressing them. For instance, trade bodies perceive Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart as threats to local retailers and have taken the matter to various courts. The Competition Commission of India has reportedly launched an investigation over preferential treatment. Amazon has also been engaged in a legal battle with Future Retail to stop the Kishore Biyani-led retailer’s $3.4 billion deal with Reliance Industries. Last year, the firm reportedly laid off employees in India across different functions due to global macroeconomic uncertainty.

The company has previously pledged to digitise 10 million MSMEs, enable $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, and create 2 million jobs in India by 2025. Amazon has stated that it is progressing well towards fulfilling these commitments.

First Published: Sep 18 2024 | 8:02 PM IST