BANGALORE:
Amazon India today provided an update on the progress it has made on its commitments made in January 2020, to announce that it has digitized 2.5 million MSMEs, enabled cumulative exports worth $3 billion and helped create nearly 1 million jobs in India till date. Last year at the inaugural Smbhav Summit, Amazon had announced an investment of $1 billion to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs, enable ecommerce exports worth $10 billion and create 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025. The company is on track to fulfil these commitments.
Amit Agarwal, Global Senior Vice President and Country Head of Amazon India, said, “As we continue to work with small and medium businesses in our ecosystem, we remain committed to bringing new tools, technology and innovation that will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of Indian businesses, boost exports from the country, help create jobs at scale and contribute to the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. As the world around us is more digital than ever with the internet and technology becoming an integral part of our lives, we see a massive opportunity to empower millions of SMBs across the country and remain committed for Amazon to be a catalyst for such accelerated progress.”
Digitally enabled more than 1 million MSMEs
Today, more than 2.5 million MSMEs work with Amazon in India including sellers, artisans & weavers, delivery & logistics service partners etc. Amazon has been focused on simplifying online selling for small and medium businesses and since January 2020 nearly 250,000 new sellers have joined Amazon.in. Amazon has introduced seller registration and account management services in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Kannada and more than 75,000 sellers have registered on the Amazon India marketplace in regional Indian languages. Amazon also sharpened its focus on bringing the benefits of e-commerce to neighbourhood stores and had launched a new program called ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ in April 2020. The program has grown 10 times since launch and today over 50,000 offline retailers and neighborhood stores from across the country are selling on Amazon.in.
Indian exporters on Amazon Global Selling cross $3 billion in cumulative ecommerce exports Amazon Global Selling, is witnessing rapid momentum and today there are 70,000+ exporters on the program who have cumulatively crossed $3 billion in exports. There is a strong demand from global customers for a range of Made in India products including STEM toys, jewelry, bed linen, healthcare products, tea, leather products and others. It took the program 3 years to clock the first billion in cumulative exports, the second billion came in 18 months and the third one has taken just 12 months. Importantly, Indian exporters on Amazon Global Selling played a key role in serving customers across the world during the pandemic by leveraging Amazon’s technology and infrastructure. This helped them not only sustain and grow their business but also support thousands of people who directly and indirectly depended on them for livelihoods. With this program, Indian exporters can list their products on 17 international marketplaces/ websites of Amazon, get access to 150 million paid Prime members and over 300 million customers in 200 countries and territories across the world.
Amazon has created over 1 million direct and indirect jobs in India
The growth of exports and digital enablement of MSMEs is helping accelerate economic recovery for thousands of businesses to positively impact job creation as well as the overall economy. In a challenging year where saving livelihoods and creating new jobs was a top priority, Amazon helped create nearly 300,000 direct and indirect jobs across industries including information technology, skill development, content creation, retail, logistics, and manufacturing. This includes job roles in our corporate offices in diverse areas including Machine Learning and Software Development, direct and indirect jobs across our fulfilment centres, logistic centres, sales offices, data centres, and other indirect jobs we create through our ecosystem including sellers’ community. In total, Amazon has helped create over a million direct and indirect jobs in India since 2013.
