E-commerce giant Amazon Inc’s total exports from small and medium sellers in India have surpassed the $2 billion mark, revealed company executives. This was a part of a company programme to export products to global markets.
Amazon’s Global Selling programme was launched in India in 2015. The company said that the programme, also operational in other markets, has enabled more than 60,000 Indian sellers to export products to 15 Amazon websites.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos during his India visit earlier this year said that the US-based e-commerce company would invest USD 1 billion in digitalising small and medium businesses in India and hoped to export Indian-made goods worth $10 billion by 2025.
“It took us more than three years to hit the first billion dollars. Today, we are able to hit the next billion dollars; 100% growth in the last 18 months.”
~ Gopal Pillai, Vice President for Seller Services, Amazon India
Amazon has previously stated that it has also collaborated with Indian banks to offer cheap loans to its small sellers.
Amazon’s export boost comes as India is trying to snap off cheap imports from China, in the break of PM Narendra Modi’s call for a self-reliant or Atmanirbhar Bharat.
With the aim of training youth whose learning journey or placement was impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company had recently announced the launch of its skill development programme under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) across its warehouses in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
The U.S. remains the biggest market for Amazon’s Indian exporters and annual events held there have significantly helped boost sales, Abhijit Kamra, Head of global trade at Amazon India shared.
Apparel and jewellery, home items and leather products led the sales although exports saw growth across several product categories.
The outbreak of the pandemic has raised the demand of online shopping and home deliveries, in light of which the e-commerce giant had announced plans last month to provide for 20,000 ‘seasonal’ or temporary employment opportunities in its customer service (CS) organisation to help customers in India and globally with a seamless online shopping experience.
