Amazon plans to pump an extra $3bn into India as it aims to capitalise on the country’s growing number of internet users.
The etailer’s chief executive Jeff Bezos said this week it was upping its planned investment in India, on top of the $2bn it promised in 2014.
“I can assure you it’s only the beginning and, as we say in Amazon, it’s only day one,” Bezos told an event in Washington attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India is Amazon’s fastest-growing region and Bezos said the investments will help start-ups, while accelerating the country’s role as an innovation hub and driving digital entrepreneurship.
Bezos revealed Amazon will open a Web Services Cloud Region in India this year. The country is also on track to become home to the etailer’s largest software engineering and development centre outside of the US, in Hyderabad.
Amazon currently has 21 fulfilment centres in India, Bezos revealed.
Last September the etailer launched an offering in India that allows businesses to sell and ship products through their own websites using Amazon’s infrastructure.
International sales accounted for a third of Amazon’s $107bn sales last year, but increased just 5%, compared with overall growth of 20%.
In India, a rapid rise in smartphone sales means the country is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for internet users. The number of people online in the country jumped 40% last year to more than 250 million, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
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