New Delhi: E-commerce major Amazon has pumped over Rs 1,700 crore into its payments and wholesale business units in India, signaling opportunity that the US giant sees in the country.
Amazon Pay India has received Rs 1,355 crore from Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com.incs.Limited, while Amazon Wholesale (India) allotted shares worth about Rs 360 crore to Amazon Corporate Holdings and Amazon.com.incs.Limited, regulatory documents filed with the Corporate Affairs Ministry showed.
The digital payment unit allotted shares to the said units December 31, 2019, while Amazon Wholesale (India) made the allotment December 30.
Emails sent to Amazon India on the fund infusion did not elicit any response.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is in India this week and is expected to meet top government functionaries, business leaders and SMBs. In a tweet, Bezos shared a video of his visit to Raj Ghat.
“Just landed in India and spent a beautiful afternoon paying my respects to someone who truly changed the world. ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever – Mahatma Gandhi’,” Bezos said in his tweet.
The top executive’s visit comes at a time when India’s anti-trust body, Competition Commission of India has ordered an investigation into alleged violations of competition laws by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
Thousands of small-scale traders’ unions under Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) are planning to hold protests around the country during Bezos’ stay in India.
Last year, the government had tightened rules for e-commerce marketplaces with foreign investment. These rules barred such platforms from offering products of sellers in which they hold a stake, and banned exclusive marketing arrangements among other clauses.
Bezos could discuss these issues during his meeting with government officials. He is also slated to engage with SMBs during the SMBhav event Wednesday. The event – which will focus on discussions around how technology adoption can enable SMBs in India – is slated to see participation from industry experts, policy makers, solution providers and Amazon leadership.
PTI