Amazon on Thursday announced a series of strategic initiatives at the fourth edition of the Amazon Smbhav Summit in New Delhi. The event brought together policy makers, industry leaders, startups, and Amazon executives to discuss ways to unlock the potential of a Digital India.
Amazon’s initiatives are in line with its commitment to India’s growth and development, as articulated by Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President India & Emerging Markets at Amazon. “We are excited about the growth and long-term potential in the Indian market and the opportunity to serve millions of consumers and sellers in India,” Agarwal said during the summit.
One of the significant announcements was Amazon’s collaboration with India Post, the backbone of India’s logistics and supply chain infrastructure. Amazon signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India Post to create an integrated cross-border logistics solution. This partnership is expected to extend e-commerce export opportunities to countless micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) throughout the country.
Leveraging India Post’s extensive reach and Amazon’s technological prowess, this collaboration aims to simplify cross-border logistics and compliance for Indian exporters. Amazon’s Global Selling program participants will have the convenience of booking shipments, generating shipping labels, and making payments directly through their seller central accounts. These shipments will then be directed to over 100 Dak Niryat Kendras across India, facilitating seamless export to global customers.
Furthermore, Amazon’s engagement with the Indian Railways’ Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFC) is set to smoothen the delivery process. Amazon India has already commenced operations with DFC on the Rewari-Palanpur route, covering a distance of 659 km between Haryana and Gujarat. This marks Amazon as the first e-commerce company in India to utilize DFC for shipping customer packages via freight railway routes.
The collaboration is anticipated to provide a more sustainable and expedited mode of transportation, leading to reliable customer deliveries. As the DFC network expands in the coming years, Amazon India aims to capitalize on new freight railway routes and capabilities, enhancing its operational efficiency.
Amazon also introduced innovative tools to support its sellers. The company unveiled a generative AI-based personal digital assistant for sellers named ‘Amazon सह-AI.’ This tool is designed to provide valuable insights, recommendations, and guidance to help sellers improve their e-commerce operations.
Moreover, Amazon is offering multi-channel fulfillment capabilities to Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. This service enables small businesses and D2C brands to manage their inventory and order fulfillment across Amazon and non-Amazon platforms in a centralised manner, streamlining their operations.
The event witnessed the unveiling of a commemorative postal stamp celebrating the decade-long partnership between Amazon and India Post. The stamp showcases various transportation modes Amazon employs to ship products to customers across India.
Manish Tiwary, Country Manager India Consumer Business at Amazon India, highlighted, “We remain excited about the long-term opportunity in India. We are focused on investing in physical and digital infrastructure and building cutting-edge technology solutions to serve customers and enable Indian businesses to scale and grow in India and globally.”
“I congratulate Amazon on SMBhav 2023. I am delighted to know about Amazon’s commitment to digitizing 10 million MSMEs, enabling 2 million jobs, and driving USD 20 billion in e-commerce exports from India by 2025. For lakhs of small businesses across India, digitisation can offer economic growth, broader customer reach, reduced marketing and distribution expenses, and access to foreign markets,” said Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (I/C), MoS in the Prime Minister’s office, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Government of India.
