Amazon India‘s country head Amit Agarwal said the world’s largest e-commerce player is investing in new Fulfillment Centres and opening up jobs as it’s seen a significant spike in the number of sellers and shoppers coming online.
In an exclusive interview with ET Now, he also spoke about how Amazon plans to power Atmanirbhar Bharat, the new consumer rules. the upcoming e-commerce policy and reports of Amazon investing in Reliance Retail. Edited excerpts
ET Now (ET): You recently said Indian MSMEs exports through Amazon’s platform crossed $2 Billion. During his visit here, Jeff Bezos spoke about creating 1 million jobs in India by 2025. Take is through your own efforts in powering Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Amit Agarwal (AA): We have more than six lakh small and medium businesses on our marketplace today. We very specific programs targeted towards small and medium enterprises. SMBs are resilient and creative and what they need is empowerment. We launched local shops recently that allows small shops in locality to set up on Amazon and we have more than 12,000 local retailers. We are empowering the supply chain.
ET: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari urged you to look at import substitutes. Will there be a renewed push for Made in India products in light of the Govt’s efforts on Atmanirbhar Bharat and the move to display country of origin labels?
AA:
This has always been our focus from day one. Focus is not to create an insular economy but on empowering great entrepreneurs. The country of origin is a more tactical issue. We are very proud of what we are doing to make Indian manufacturers create brands separately we will comply with whatever rules are there in displaying the country of origin on the Amazon website.
ET: Recent reports indicate that e-commerce companies have not just recovered but surpassed pre-Covid levels. You have seen a 50% increase in new sellers joining your platform. Give us a sense of what is happening?
AA: It’s hard to predict anything. Customers are looking for a safe way to get their products. There is a dual sided interest in making this happen. We have seen seller registrations grow more than 50% pre Covid times.
Read: Helping sellers revive their business will jump-start the economy: Amazon’s Amit Agarwal
ET: Are these existing or new users? Are you seeing changes in patterns?
AA: Customers agree that online is the safest way, they also are getting access to more selection, greater value and greater convenience. Distinctly seen a trend towards new customers, existing shoppers more Prime customers shopping more
ET: What will this mean from an employment creation perspective for Amazon in India?
AA: We own 32 million square cubic feet of Fulfilment Centres and have created 70,000 new seasonal jobs, all of these are to make sure we have capacity. We take a very long term view on investment. I’m very optimistic businesses in India are very resilient. We remain committed to revival of the economy.
ET: The B2B commerce space is generating a lot of interest, Flipkart recently launched Flipkart Wholesale. Do you think, going forward, physical retail will be interlinked with e-commerce ?
AA: Our B2B marketplace has been doing very well over the years. We have also been doing distribution in Bengaluru for many years by working with kirana stores. We very excited by the promise that we see.
ET: How did your investments and partnerships with the likes of More, Shoppers Stop and Future group help you in the last few months? Especially with respect to essentials?
AA: We work with all our partners very closely. We have sellers from small sellers to large sellers. customers have looked to Amazon to buy essentials – through Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry. both of these formats have been doing exceedingly well. We continue to invest in these formats.
ET: Two key developments on the regulatory side- the recent consumer protection laws and the upcoming ecommerce policy, there is talk of a regulator. What do you make of it?
AA: Being a company that obsesses with customers on a daily basis, we don’t need a policy to ensure that our customers are protected. We take it as our existential requirement. Wherever there is disruption, you have find ways to adjust legacy laws to suit that disruption so its normal intent is admirable , govt is finding out ways to help India move forward in the right direction.
What u want to make sure is that the policy environment is an enabling environment, it fuels growth it removes friction and helps them be more successful so u have more jobs, more digital SMEs, more exports that is the kind of feedback we provide
ET: Prime Day is the next big event for you here. What have you been buying during the lockdown? Have your purchase patterns changed?
AA: I am very excited that we are hosting Prime Day on August 6 and 7, more than 300 brands launching products, I have my parents buying everything from grocery on Amazon to Oximeters, thermometers to bed sheets. I have a box of Amazon coming in every day, like a conveyor belt. I really request customers to give our delivery partners a thank you the next time they come to your doorstep. They are the real superheroes for making this happen. So I want to thank all of them.
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