E-commerce behemoth Amazon has poured in $ 214.6 million into the Indian data services operations, according to its Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing.
Amazon Data Services India Private Ltd, which was incorporated in June 2016 with share capital $139.7 million, got this first funding in November last year from Amazon.com Inc (Rs 13.8 crore) and A100 Row Inc (Rs 1368 crore), by allocating 138.16 crore shares having a face value of Rs 10 each, said a VCCircle report.
The firm at present provides cloud computing for data storage, protection, safety and recovery, in addition to web hosting services. The fresh infusion is part of Amazon’s overall commitment of $5 billion to India.
With the investment of around $4 billion, Japanese internet major SoftBank is the top investor in India’s digital economy. Tiger Global stands at the third position, which has parked less than $2 billion.
Last month, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos reiterated the commitment to India after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in US.
“Always impressed, energised by optimism and invention in India. Excited to keep investing and growing,” he said in a tweet.
Terrific meeting with @narendramodi. Always impressed, energized by optimism and invention in India. Excited to keep investing and growing. https://t.co/xhQ58dik3y
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) June 25, 2017
The services offered by both Amazon Data Services Private Limited and AISPL are part of the same web services offering, it is not clear how both these organisations are distinct in terms of operations.
On this move by Amazon, an e-commerce industry observer said that this is a tax saving exercise by giant company.
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For Amazon, AWS is currently the global leader in web services and cloud computing besides being the entity’s main cash cow. The profits generated by this business has helped offset its losses and thin margins incurred its retail and e-commerce business.
Over the years, AWS has proved to be one of Amazon’s most lucrative businesses, and it is now at the forefront of the cloud infrastructure market, ahead of the likes of Google, Microsoft, IBM, VMware, and Rackspace.
AWS contributed a little over $12 billion in total revenues for Amazon and it is expected to generate $14 billion in annualised revenue rate within the next two quarters, said a media report.
In India, AISPL generated a 2X rise in revenues at Rs 208.7 crore in FY16 versus Rs 101.1 crore in FY15, while total expenditure showed a 2.2X rise to Rs 188.3 crore in FY16 versus Rs 85.3 crore in FY15.
