Amazon invests Rs 341cr in its Indian wholesale business
E-commerce giant Amazon has invested Rs 341 crore in AmazonBusiness.in, the B2B wholesale arm of Amazon India, to expand operations in the country.
Amazon Wholesale India has received an investment of Rs 341 crore from its parent company in a bid to expand its services to multiple cities in the country. The Amazon India subsidiary, which operates on the AmazonBusiness.in domain, currently operates only in Bengaluru and Mysuru.
“We are relentlessly focused on expanding our selection and raising the standard for customer experience and online shopping in India. With Amazon Wholesale India, our vision is to build a place where businesses can come to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online,” an Amazon spokesperson told the Economic Times.
The investment was made in May by Amazon Corporate Holdings Singapore and Amazon.com Inc., according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.
This takes the total investment in Amazon's Indian wholesale division to Rs 756 crore, media reports.
Amazon Wholesale India supplies medical and office supplies, kitchen products, packaged foods, and more in bulk to businesses like small offices, retail stores, drug stores, hospitals, and restaurants. It is also the retailer of mobile and electronic brands like Xiaomi, Xolo, Coolpad, and Fitbit, which do not have a physical presence, or their own distribution chains, in the country.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had earlier committed a $5 billion investment in Amazon India to expand his company's operations in the country.
“Amazon will invest $3 billion more in India. This is in addition to the $2 billion announced in 2014. We have already created some 45,000 jobs in India and continue to see huge potential in the Indian economy,” Bezos had said at the annual gala of US India Business Council (USIBC) in June last year.
Amazon last month invested Rs 1,680 crores (around $2.6 billion) in Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd, the Indian division of its consumer marketplace.
