India to be key driver of our long-term growth: Amazon's Samir Kumar

Business Standard

18 hours ago

India is expected to become one of the largest contributors to Amazon's long-term growth, its country head Samir Kumar said on Wednesday, adding that the e-commerce giant is doubling down on its focus in the market, where it is investing billions of dollars.
India is still not as deeply penetrated in terms of online consumption and therefore, presents a "very large opportunity" for Amazon, Kumar, who is now helming operations here as the Country Manager of Amazon India, told PTI in an interview.
It is pertinent to mention that Amazon has committed to significant investment in its India infrastructure, about ₹ 2,000 crore for 2025 alone. It has previously outlined a broader investment pledge of $ 26 billion by 2030, with close to $ 15 billion between 2023 and 2030.
Kumar said India is among the fastest-growing markets for the company.
"And we are a big believer that in the long run, India will be one of the biggest contributors to our growth," Kumar said, but did not give a timeframe.
India is still not deeply penetrated in terms of consumption, he said, adding that while users are online, buying products and watching videos, there is a huge headroom for growth when it comes to online shoppers.
"...not everyone is shopping online. If you look at just mobile phone penetration, maybe it is close to a billion people, who have mobile phones, but only 100 million plus of them are shopping online. So, the next 200 million (that the company is aspiring to reach) are going to be part of that," he pointed out.
As the economy grows, and so does consumption, and as GDP per capita rises, India is poised to have "many more consumers who will value the convenience of shopping online", Kumar noted.
"We have seen this phenomenon around the world. So, we have a very large opportunity still remaining in India. We have 1.4 billion people," he said.
The company has set its sights on what Kumar describes as a broader 'Bharat', living in tier 2, 3 cities and beyond.
"Let's take a good chunk of that and make sure that they are able to come online, shop online, get the best value, and get the fastest delivery possible. And with that, I believe there's a big opportunity. So, beyond the tier one cities, there's a huge opportunity in 'Bharat', which is like tier 2, 3 cities, where we are seeing very deep penetration now starting to happen," he said.
For Amazon, part of that optimism also comes from Prime Day sales indicators.
"In fact, if you look at the Prime Day performance that we just concluded, almost 70 per cent of new Prime customers or Prime members came from these smaller cities. If you look at our sellers who participated in Prime Day, almost 60 to 75 per cent of them got a sale from the smallest town and city. So, I think India is growing," he said.
Kumar declined to give a breakdown of India numbers, but said it is "definitely one of our fastest growing markets, continues to be".
"And we continue to see the growth of India," he said.
Amazon is "happy" with the progress that it has made so far, but believes "there's so much to be done".
"We are very, very long-term focused," he asserted.
Asked how macroeconomic realities, and the trade and tariffs tensions between India and the US are impacting exporters on its platform, Kumar refused to comment on specifics, saying "I am not an expert on tariffs".
"...what we control...is building a frictionless and really smooth experience for our sellers, whether it's building the middle mile or the global mile capability for people to take their item and be able to distribute it around the world.
"So, we are building that capability. Making it easier for sellers to list their products in one place and go through the regulatory and compliance requirements in each of the marketplaces that we run. So, we are enabling that," he said.
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