Amazon goes aggressive in India, invests Rs 341 crore in its wholesale arm

Seattle-based e-commerce major Amazon invested Rs 341 crore in Amazon Wholesale India in May this year, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

The new investment has been made by Amazon Corporate Holdings Singapore and Amazon Inc Malaysia, which takes the total capital infused to Rs 756 crore, with a tranche of Rs 100 crore added in December 2016.

AmazonBusiness.in –– the platform operated by Amazon Wholesale –– is the wholesale arm for member-only B2B website. Currently, it serves businesses in Bengaluru and Mysuru only.

Besides, the company has also appointed Shalini Puchalapalli as director of Amazonbusiness.in. Prior to joining Amazon India, she was CEO of Lehar Foods Pvt Ltd, owned by Pepsico.

The fresh round comes after another investment of Rs 1,680 crore that the global giant made in the Indian online marketplace business.

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According to media reports, the new funds will be pumped into expanding the service to other cities in the country.

AmazonBusiness.in caters to only businesses that include small offices, entrepreneurs, department stores, kirana stores, drug stores, clinics, hospitals, hotels, and restaurants.

Amazon Wholesale is also the retailer and distributor of smartphone brands like Coolpad, Honor, OnePlus and others which do not have a distribution chain or physical presence in India.

"We are relentlessly focused on expanding our selection and raising the standard for customer experience and online shopping in India," said Amazon India spokesperson talking to Moneycontrol.

With Amazon Wholesale India, the vision is to build a place where businesses can come to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online, the spokesperson added.

Amazon is the second largest global investor in India’s digital economy. The company has committed to spend overall $5 billion in India.

The company's founder Jeff Bezos has already highlighted the importance of the Indian market to its operations.